Chapter 3

Chloe glanced at him, a hint of impatience in her eyes. "So, the meteor shower? Are we doing this or not? Assuming we survive this ridiculous road trip."

Ethan nodded, perhaps a little too eagerly. "Yeah, definitely. If we can. It would be... nice."

He told himself her unexpected offer was just a whim, a way to fill empty time now that Ryan' s gig was cancelled. He couldn' t let himself read too much into it. His mission was about her happiness, not his own fleeting moments of connection.

They were approaching the outskirts of Somerville, the small Nevada town known for its quick marriage chapels. The landscape was dry, dusty, matching the desolation he felt inside.

Just as he was steeling himself for the confrontation at the marriage bureau, Chloe' s phone rang. The ringtone was a raw, energetic guitar riff – Ryan' s band.

She snatched it up. "Ryan? What' s wrong?"

Her voice changed instantly, losing its bored, sarcastic edge, replaced by genuine concern.

Ethan watched her face. Her eyes widened, her lips parted in distress.

"Oh my god, are you okay? ... A fight? ... Where are you? ... The hospital? Which one? ... Okay, okay, I' m coming. Don' t move. I' ll be there as soon as I can."

She hung up, her hand trembling slightly as she put the phone down.

She didn' t even look at Ethan.

She slammed on the brakes, pulled a sharp U-turn in the middle of the highway, tires screeching, and gunned the engine, heading back the way they came.

"Chloe, what happened?" Ethan asked, though he already had a sinking feeling.

"It' s Ryan," she said, her voice tight with anxiety. "He got into a fight at some bar. He' s hurt. He' s at Mercy General back in our city. I have to go to him."

The elopement, the meteor shower, Ethan himself – all forgotten in an instant.

Of course.

Ethan remembered this pattern from their original timeline. Ryan was a magnet for trouble, and Chloe was always the one to bail him out, emotionally, financially, physically. He' d tried, gently at first, then more insistently, to show her Ryan' s true colors – his laziness, his manipulation, his casual cruelty.

But every attempt had backfired. Chloe had only dug her heels in deeper, accusing Ethan of being jealous, of not understanding their "artistic connection." She' d seen Ryan as a misunderstood rebel, a passionate soul, and Ethan as the boring, conventional alternative her parents approved of.

Her devotion to Ryan had been absolute, a blind spot that Ethan could never penetrate.

He looked at her now, her knuckles white as she gripped the steering wheel, her eyes fixed on the road ahead, her entire being focused on reaching Ryan.

This was it. The third regret. "Regretted not being able to 'save' Ryan from a self-destructive path (or a specific incident)."

The outline had mentioned a specific incident. This bar fight, leading to an injury, was probably it. In the original timeline, perhaps the consequences for Ryan had been more severe, something Chloe blamed herself for not preventing, or for not being there sooner.

His own mission timeline was accelerating. He had thought he' d have more time to deal with the parents, the music career, before Ryan' s inevitable drama erupted.

But fate, or whatever force had sent him back, had other plans.

He felt a familiar wave of resignation wash over him. His own feelings, his own desires, were irrelevant. He was here for Chloe. And if Chloe' s happiness, or her perception of it, involved saving Ryan, then that' s what he had to help her do.

Even if it meant enabling her attachment to a man who would only hurt her. Even if it meant being misunderstood, again.

His role was clear: a facilitator of the life she thought she wanted, the life that would, he prayed, keep her alive and free from the regrets that had haunted her.

"Okay," Ethan said quietly. "Let' s go to Ryan."

Chloe didn' t even acknowledge him. She just drove faster.