“About four hours ago. Why’d it take you so long to call?”

“We tried. What did you do to your phone?”

“Nothing.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Why would I lie about that? Trust me, if I actually figured out a way to block calls, I’d tell you all about it.” But her phone hadn’t rung once while she was in O’Connell’s or while she was walking with Gary and Sheryl, at least not until it was time for them to separate. In the last four hours, Charlie hadn’t considered flushing her phone down a toilet, tossing it through the open window of a passing cab, or mailing it to Argentina to get a temporary reprieve from family.

She watched Gary and Sheryl turn into the parking lot. Someone or something had really wanted her to spend that time with them. If Charlie ever found out who or what it was, she’d have to thank them. “Is Allie okay?”

“What part of all the lights have been red for four hours sounds like okay to you?”

“I’m on my way.”

“On your way where?”

Okay, maybe she deserved that. “Home.”

“Aim for yesterday.”

She couldn’t make yesterday, but it sounded like Allie’s reaction had been strong enough Charlie could have followed it back to the moment right after she’d hung up. “It won’t change anything. The lights will still be red, and you’ll still be pissed off when you call.”

“Fucking Schrödinger’s future,” Katie muttered.

“You’re the one who opened the box.” Because the past had already happened, Charlie couldn’t know what she was trying to change. If she were going to change it, she already had. If Katie had called and told her to go home to the moment right after she’d hung up, and nothing more, Charlie would have been able to follow the oom pah pah of Allie’s reaction out of the Wood. Later, Katie would have told her to do something she’d already done and, for approximately four hours, Charlie would have been in both Calgary and Baltimore.

Once Charlie knew she hadn’t been with Allie while she was also at O’Connell’s, she couldn’t go and be with Allie.

Being able to exit the Wood at different times had seemed like a kick-ass travel option until it became obvious that fulfilling the parameters was an absolute bitch. Once she’d realized that, Charlie’d let the family know she’d be happy to help with any do-overs, but the person making the request had to work out the details. So far, no one had taken her up on her offer although Auntie Gwen had spent the last three years working on an elaborate plan involving Joss Whedon and a shot-but-never-shown, second season of Firefly.