Kiss and Spell

Just as I realized that, Josh got out of his seat, knelt in front of me, and opened a ring box.

At first, I was frozen. I wanted to say or do something before this went any further, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t even hear what he was saying over the pounding of my heart and the rush of blood in my ears. When his lips stopped moving, I heard myself say, “I can’t,” and then my feet made the decision my brain couldn’t. I got up and ran from the restaurant.

The store was still open, so I hoped Owen would be there. I supposed it wasn’t utterly essential that I talk to him now. He’d be there tomorrow, and I could talk to him then. But something drove me to get there right away. I knew who was right for me and I didn’t want to waste a moment. After the way I’d left him, I didn’t want to give him a chance to dwell on the way I’d acted toward him. If I gave him too much time to think about it, he might come to hate me, and I couldn’t bear that.

I tried flagging down several cabs, but they all passed right by me. A motorcycle messenger stopped and said, “Do you need a lift? You look like you’re having an emergency.”

I knew I wasn’t supposed to trust strangers, but this was a crisis, so I said, “You know the bookstore on Seventy-third?”

“Yeah, I won the treasure hunt there today—hey, that’s where I’ve seen you before. Hop on.”

He looked familiar enough that I decided to go for it. I hiked the skirt of my dress up to my thighs to climb on behind him, and he handed me the spare helmet that was hooked to the seat. I held on to him for dear life as he tore down the streets, weaving in and out of traffic. I kept my eyes squeezed shut, sure we were going to crash at any moment, and before I knew it, the cycle came to a stop. “Here we are,” the driver said.

I dismounted shakily, handed him the helmet, then waved thanks to him as I hurried to the store’s entrance. It was more than an hour before closing time, and the store was still full of customers browsing the shelves. Our promotional efforts seemed to have paid off, I noted, but that wasn’t my focus. I needed to find Owen. I thought about going to the customer service desk and using the store’s public address system but decided that would be overkill. Instead, I headed toward the manager’s office with the hope that he’d be in there doing paperwork.

I didn’t realize that I’d started jogging—no mean trick in high heels—so I could get there faster until some of the patrons stopped looking at books and turned to stare at me. I forced myself to slow to a brisk walk as I wove through the aisles. When I had to stop to let a couple with a stroller get past, I turned just in time to see Owen coming down the stairs. Before I knew what I was doing, I called out his name.

He froze and frowned. “Katie?” he said. I wasn’t sure how much I actually heard over the background noise of the store and how much was just me recognizing my name on his lips. I rushed toward the stairs as he hurried the rest of the way down.

“I’m sorry,” I blurted when we met at the foot of the stairs. “I don’t know what got into me today. It was like everything that had happened with us was just a dream and reality was totally different. But I was wrong about what was real. I was wrong about Josh. I was wrong about you. You’re the one.”

This time, I let gravity have its way as it drew us together. Our lips touched, and it was more than I could have imagined. I felt like I was coming awake—truly awake—for the first time in my life.

Both of us suddenly pulled away from each other. “Katie?” he whispered.

“Owen?” I responded.

Then, simultaneously, we said, “Where are we?”

Chapter Nine

I felt dizzy and groggy, like I’d been suddenly awakened from a deep sleep and hadn’t quite caught my bearings while the dream world I’d just left still had a grip on my brain and the real world hadn’t yet come into focus. What was going on here?

Owen looked similarly confused. He clasped my hands in his and whispered urgently, “I think we need to talk.”

I blinked, then remembered that we were standing in the middle of a bookstore. A small crowd of shoppers hovered nearby, pretending not to notice us while still watching avidly. But, a bookstore? What were we doing in a bookstore?

Owen released one of my hands and led me to the maps section under the stairs, where no one was browsing. “What’s the last thing you remember—really remember, when you know it was us?”

I closed my eyes to think, then said, “We went into that warehouse that Earl sent us a picture of. There was something in there, but I didn’t get a good look at it before everything went black. And then I was here in the store just now, except I also remember having been here all along. I think I know when it started being really me instead of fake memories, but I’m not entirely sure.” I knew I was babbling, but I’d just discovered that I’d apparently been living someone else’s life without knowing who I really was, so I figured that being freaked-out was perfectly understandable.