Most men didn’t want to use condoms in her experience,despite all the warnings. Perhaps it was down to some sort of primeval urge toensure their sperm hit the target. Then again, perhaps the men she had beenwith were not representative of the population as a whole, considering that shegenerally picked arseholes. Nearly all of them either conveniently forgot ormade up some bullshit like Glen had about being allergic to latex.
Kent was right on time calling for her, and within an hourthey were at the ball. Of Glen there was no sign. It seemed he had wiselyheeded her advice and stayed away to avoid any further humiliation. Despite allhis bravado, he was clearly a complete coward when someone stood up to him likeKay had.
Kay couldn’t have hoped for a better evening. It wouldn’thave been an exaggeration to say that it was the happiest day of her life, andthat included her wedding day, which wasn’t actually all that great. How couldit have been? She had been lumbering herself with Alan for twenty years.
This night may have been taking place in a fake universe,but in Kay’s eyes, it would always be real. The memories she was making tonightwould be precious, and she would be able to carry them with her for the rest ofher life. Nothing could take them away from her.
She and Kent were inseparable all evening, cherishing every singlemoment together. Of course, he had no way of knowing that it was only for onenight. It seemed almost cruel in a way. Was it right of the angel to create newuniverses at will and then delete them at her leisure?
Was that not tantamount to murdering the people who lived inthose new universes, even if their counterparts lived on in the original? Whowas to say? At least in Kent’s case, ignorance was bliss. He was clearlydeliriously happy at what was happening, unaware that he would soon cease to exist.
At least there was another Kent, the original one back in2018 who had got to live his own version of this day again. She wondered how hehad felt when he returned. Had he fallen for her in that timeline, just as hehad in this one? It would certainly explain why he had been so much kinder toher in recent weeks in the real world.
In this world, the evening was racing past far too quicklyfor Kay’s liking. It seemed like no time at all until they were sharing thelast dance of the night, a smoochy ballad from Wet Wet Wet. As the song came toa close, she knew it was time to tell him what she wanted to say and what shehoped he wanted to hear. She whispered into his ear, “I want to come home withyou tonight.”
He didn’t resist, just as she had hoped. Within an hour ofthat final dance, the two of them were making love in his bed. The contrastwith the original version of this night could not have been greater. Glen hadwanted her purely for sex: this was different. This was more like the movie sexshe had always believed was a myth. No man had ever gazed into her eyes beforein the way that he did. It was without a doubt the most intimate experience ofher life.
Later they held each other tightly, cuddled up in theafterglow. This wasn’t something she was used to, either. Alan used to justroll over and go to sleep straight after sex and none of her one-night standsduring the past year had shown her the slightest bit of affection.
Right at that moment, curled up with Kent, she had neverfelt so close to another human being in all her life. She tried desperately tocling onto the moment and stay awake as long as she could, willing the angelnot to take her back, but in her warm and contented state, sleep soon came.
Chapter Eleven
December 2018
The next thing she knew, she was back in the bathroom in herflat. It was all over. Strangely, she didn’t feel sad at being dragged back toreality. Instead, she felt a sense of triumph. She had achieved everything shehad set out to do and the results had massively exceeded her expectations.
She turned to the mirror, a smile on her face.
The angel was waiting for her.
“That’s the happiest I’ve seen you,” remarked herreflection.
“It should be,” said Kay. “I’ve just had the most amazingday of my entire life. Whatever happens in the future, nothing and nobody cantake that away from me now.”
“That’s great to hear,” remarked the angel. “I can see thatmy presence here is doing some good.”
“I’m very grateful,” said Kay. And she meant it. What theangel was doing for her was really starting to turn her life around.
After two trips back in time her head was brimming withideas. Her easy disposal of Glen had made her keen to serve up some justdeserts to Alan, too, but she wanted more than the satisfaction of someshort-term revenge. Kent’s tale of his antics with the dinosaur had made herthink of all sorts of humiliating pranks she could pull on Alan, but it wouldonly be a brief moment of satisfaction, and that wasn’t enough. She wanted todo something in the past that could actually make a tangible difference to herlife here in the present.
“That’s what I’m here for,” said the angel. “It’s good tosee you making good use of your days.”
“There’s plenty more I want to do yet,” she said.
“So I see,” replied the angel, probing her thoughts. “You’rea smart girl. I can see you are looking at ways to make the most of thisexperience. Not everybody does. Far too many just squander it on
