“The entire purpose of this project is to look to the future and not the past.” Kaori took a sip of her margarita. No one would mistake the laugh in her voice as playful.

“That’s purposely reductive.” He broke a stray tortilla chip on the table with one finger. The crack might’ve been one of my ribs with how his crestfallen face hit me. “You know that’s not what I’m suggesting.”

“We are not having this discussion again.” Kaori thunked her glass onto the table.

I squirmed, my eyes widening at stage-mom Genesis, who grabbed her purse. Babycakes, you can find your own way home, right? She kicked open the backstage emergency exit and sprinted off.

“I need air.”

Yusuf shoved away from the table, knocking little dishes of salsa together, and plowed out of the front door. I started to follow him but Kaori stopped me with one hand.

“Wait. He’s not a child. You chasing will only embarrass him.”

I hovered over my chair for a second before I plopped back down. She was right. I’d never seen anything that close to an outburst from him, and he wouldn’t want me in his face while he was working through it.

“So,” I said dumbly. “I’d offer to ask the cards about what to do here, but this seems out of my wheelhouse.”

“We’ve seen an alternate version of you,” Kaori said, pausing for a sip. “I suppose now we’re seeing an alternate version of him.”

Yusuf’s words from our first day here conked me on the head. Is a carpenter friends with her hammer? I hadn’t known him well enough then to see that he couldn’t have been joking.

“And you? What are the other versions of you like?”

“The multiverse doesn’t need any other rough drafts of me. I’m already the finished product.”

I mean. Answering a question with an equally serious and hilarious middle finger to the questioner was perfectly her.

“Come on.” My laugh didn’t reach my eyes. To hell with what she said, I was going to chase Yusuf in just another second and apologize for forcing him out tonight. First, I had to know. “I don’t buy that you didn’t look.”

She leaned forward, the gentle curve of her smirk like let me tell you a secret.

“Of course I looked. What I’m saying is that even with all the footage I’ve seen.”

Stupid. I should’ve known with the way she leaned into all just how much she’d really seen. But I’m fast-forwarding again.

“I’ve neeeeeever seen a single second of myself,” she finished and then stared at me, just waiting for something. When I didn’t bite, she added, “What do you think of that?”

“I dunno. Talk to Yusuf about probability. Infinite universes and infinite outcomes, blah blah…”