Gerald stepped out of his car and checked his watch. 8:00 PM. He was exactly one hour late.In his past life, that hour would have destroyed him. He would have been sweating, shaking, his heart pounding so hard he could barely think straight. He would have rushed in with cheap flowers, already planning how to apologize for the next week just to make Tina stop looking at him like he was trash.This time, he straightened his jacket and walked toward the entrance like he owned the place. His heart was steady. He wasn't thinking about Tina's anger or the Hills family's disappointment. He was thinking about the next twenty-one days and everything he needed to do before the world ended.The restaurant was exactly what he expected. Gold everywhere, soft music, the smell of expensive food that cost more than most people made in a month. The kind of place designed to make factory workers feel small.He spotted the Hills family right away. They were sitting at the biggest table in the center, l

But the picture on the trading site wasn't clear enough to be sure. It was just a side shot, a little blurry, taken from far away. She had stared at it all morning while reading about the Newtop miracle, but looking at Gerald now in his worn factory jacket, she couldn't say for certain it was the same man.The doubt was eating at her.Gerald watched her face and saw the hesitation. He tilted his head slightly."Are you really ready to lose a premium customer," he said quietly, "all because of comments that haven't been verified as truth?""They are verified!" Tina snapped before Lora could answer. She stepped closer to the counter, her voice getting louder. "Everyone in this restaurant knows exactly how useless he is!"She turned to the crowd with her arms spread wide."Tell her! Tell her what you've seen!"The crowd didn't need to be asked twice."I've seen him before," a man in a gray suit said, shaking his head. "He came to my office building last month begging for work. Couldn't e

The silence in the restaurant was heavy and suffocating. Every single person in the hall was staring at the scene in the middle of the room. The guards had frozen in their tracks, their hands hovering near their batons, not knowing whether to move forward or step back. Henry sat with his mouth hanging open, his expensive drink forgotten on the table. James and Jane Hills had gone completely still at their table. But no one was more shocked than Tina. Tina stood there with her eyes wide, looking between Gerald and the stunning woman who had just bowed to him. Her brain was working overtime, trying to find a way to make sense of what she was seeing. It had to be a mistake. It had to be some kind of joke. This woman, who looked like she owned the entire city, couldn't possibly be here for a factory worker who couldn't even pay for his food. Tina stepped forward, her face twisting into a mask of desperate confusion. She was so sure of her own reality that she couldn't see the dang

The question hit Gerald hard. For a wild second, his mind spun. He had this thought, maybe she knew he was from the future. Gerald's frown deepened. "I don't have time to be stressing my brain over guessing games," he said. "Just tell me what you're here for." The woman studied him a moment longer, then let the smile widen just slightly. "Fine. Straight to business, then," she said. "I'm Janet Cornet. Chemistry researcher by training, though these days I mostly work the investment side, I'm a portfolio manager at Halvorsen Capital." Gerald frowned again. Janet Cornet. The name scratched at something in the back of his mind, familiar in a way he couldn't place, like a word sitting just past the tip of his tongue. "So what exactly did you call me here for?" he asked. Janet folded her hands in her lap. "My employer would like to buy out your shares in Newtop. The two million tonight was only a good-faith deposit. There's significantly more on the table if you're willing to talk."

Gerald hadn’t bought the food items he needed yet. He knew that walking into one of the big, glossy restaurants uptown would only invite trouble, too many eyes and many questions.What he needed was somewhere quiet, somewhere in the lower town where people minded their business and asked zero questions. He walked for about fifteen minutes to a low town before he found it.A small shopfront. The kind of place that had probably been in someone's family for years, surviving on regulars and home cooking rather than anything fancy.He pushed the door open and a small bell chimed above his head.Inside, a woman in her fifties was wiping down the counter with a cloth, moving slowly like her feet had been hurting all day. A younger girl was carrying a heavy tray toward the kitchen, carefully balancing it with both hands. The place smelled like ginger and something roasting in the back, warm and simple, nothing like the expensive perfume of the restaurant he'd left earlier that night.Gerald