“Karly.”
She stopped. I saw a faint tremble in her whole body. “What is it?”
“Don’t give up on me.”
Her hand covered her mouth. She didn’t say a word. Instead, she stared down at the table and hugged her laptop to her chest.
“Meet me tonight,” I said again.
Without looking up, Karly nodded. “Nine o’clock. Right here.”
Then she hurried away.
After she left, I was flying.
I was so high I couldn’t see any way back down, which is a dangerous thing. The higher you go, the farther you’re likely to fall. Even so, I allowed myself to dream that I could tell Karly the truth, and she might believe me. I began to wonder if she and I could really start over in this world and rebuild what we had. That was the first moment of happiness I’d had since the accident.
Then I went to see Roscoe, and he sent me plummeting back to the ground.
I told him everything that had happened in the past day — including finding the body of his Dylan by the river — and when I was done, he bowed his head in grief. When he finally looked up again, his eyes were as cold as I’d ever seen them. This was not Roscoe the priest. This was Roscoe the friend, and I’d disappointed him.
“I told you that you didn’t belong in this place,” he snapped at me. “I told you to go back home before more people suffered. Now look what you’ve done. Look at the wreckage you’ve already caused.”
“What happened by the river wasn’t my fault,” I protested.
“Is that true? Can I believe anything you tell me? You arrive out of nowhere with this story of parallel worlds, and now you tell me my real friend is dead. Murdered. How do I know that you didn’t decide to do this yourself? Get him out of the way, take over his life, all so you can find a way to be with Karly again.”
I shook my head. “Roscoe, you know me. I would never do anything like that—”
“Actually, you made it clear that I don’t know you. And you’re right. Yesterday you promised me that your only interest in Karly was to protect her from this so-called killer. Now here you are, telling me you think you can get her back, just as I predicted. I’m sorry, Dylan. Haven’t you done enough damage?”
“How is it damage if she and I are meant to be together?”
Roscoe exhaled slowly and loudly. He took off his black glasses and wiped them on his sleeve. Then he positioned them on his face and focused his hard eyes on me. “Do you know what I spent an hour doing just before you got here? I was talking to Tai. She’s devastated. Confused. Afraid. She thinks she’s lost her husband, a man she deeply loves, and from what you tell me, she’s right. I don’t care whether there really is a dead man by the river or not. I don’t care whether your story of parallel worlds is true or a delusion. What I care about is seeing my friend — a man I love — turn his back on his wife and pursue a relationship with someone else. That is not who you are.”
“Roscoe, I feel bad for Tai, but I don’t love her. She’s not my wife.”
“In this world, she is!” Roscoe shouted, his voice echoing off the high ceiling of the church. He closed his eyes, then spoke more softly. “I’m sorry. If you’re going to live in this world, you have responsibilities to this world. You can’t come in here and expect things to be the way they were. You made decisions here. You made choices here. You have to honor them.”
I clenched my fists. “Roscoe, try to understand my situation. I love Karly, and I lost her. I never believed there was any way to have her back again. But now I realize she went through something similar to what’s happening to me. It’s not a delusion. She’ll listen to me.”
“Really? How do you think that goes, Dylan? You’re the suspect in the murder of a woman who looks just like her. You told her that your wife died, but pretty soon she’ll discover that your wife is actually alive and you’ve lied to her. You think she’s going to ignore all of that and fall in love with you? You think there’s any way this ends well?”
“Roscoe—”
My friend shook his head with the sharpness of a door closing. “No. I’m sorry, Dylan. You can’t simply undo the choices you regret from another life. That’s not how it works. All you can do is learn from them and become a better man.”
“I’m trying to do that. I swear, I’m trying to change.”
“Change requires sacrifice. Change requires acceptance of your sins. Is that what you’re doing? Or are you still pursuing your own selfish desires? I’m telling you, walk away. Walk away from Karly. If you think you can’t be with Tai, then walk away from this world altogether.”
“You don’t know what you’re asking.”
“I do. Believe me, I do.”
“Roscoe, I came to you as my friend. I need your help.”
“Yes, I know. Believe it or not, help is what I’m giving you. I know you think I should be loyal to you, and I’ve told you many times that I’d always be there for you. But you’ve also made it clear that you’re not the man I know. My friend is dead. Don’t you understand? The longer you stay here, the worse it’s going to get. You are a trespasser, Dylan. You need to leave.”
Chapter 23
When I got home, Tai was packing. Grabbing clothes by the handful, she stalked back and forth between our closet and a pink suitcase on the bed. Her long black hair was mussed, her golden face streaked with tears. I stood in the doorway, and she pretended to ignore me, but I could feel the depth of her hurt. Watching her, I knew that Roscoe was right about everything. I’d come to this world and ruined her life. She deserved better.
Her husband, her real husband, was gone. He was dead by the river, and he was never coming back. Meanwhile, the husband who was living in her house was in love with another woman.
“Who is she?” Tai asked, as if she could read my mind.
“What?”
She stopped in the middle of the bedroom and let the dresses she was carrying fall to the floor. “I followed you this morning. I saw you talking to that blond woman at Northwestern. Who is she?”
I hesitated, but there was no point in trying to hide it. “Her name is Karly Chance.”
“Are you having an affair with her?”
“There’s no affair.”
“Don’t lie to me. I saw you. Do you think I can’t read your face? Do you think I haven’t looked for that expression when you stare at me? But I’ve never seen it. Not once. You’ve never looked at me the way you were looking at her.”
“It’s impossible to explain,” I told her. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“Save your explanations. I don’t care. I’m leaving. I’m going to stay with a girlfriend.”
“Tai, I’m sorry.”
She shook her head. “No, you’re not. That’s the worst thing. You say the words, but you’re not sorry at all.”
“That’s not true. I hate that I’ve hurt you.”
“Everybody warned me. My family. Roscoe. Hell, even Edgar warned me. They said I was making a mistake by marrying you. I should have listened.”
There was nothing I could say to that.
“Is it love?” Tai went on. “Are you in love with this woman? Or is it something worse?”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m not an idiot, Dylan. I see the resemblance. She looks like the woman who was murdered across the street from us. She looks like the woman you were stalking behind the dorm at Northwestern. What kind of man are you? Who did I marry?”