To Celebrate the release of TIME AFTER TIME, the sequel to TIME BETWEEN US by Tamara Ireland Stone, I've got two excerpts for you, plus Anna and Bennett's playlist!
Bennett’s BedroomBennett lives in 2012 San Francisco and Anna lives in a Chicago suburb in 1995. Here, she sees his present-day bedroom for the first time.
Time Between Us
Bennett’s bedroom from Anna’s point of view.
“We’re here.”
I open my eyes. It’s dark in the room, but we’re standing at the center of a curved wall of windows that look out upon the city below, and all I can see is lights twinkling across the horizon and stretching to the dark waterline. “Wow. This is your room?” I hate to leave the view, but I turn around and take in the rest of my surroundings.
It doesn’t look any more lived in than his room at Maggie’s; it’s far too clean and devoid of personality, but at least I spot a framed piece of art on one of the walls. His bed is neatly made, and on the oversize glass and metal desk in the corner there’s a silver and black screen and a digital clock that reads 11: 06.
“What’s the date?”
“May 27, 2012.” I’m seventeen years away, in Bennett’s real bedroom. I walk toward his desk and spot a single framed photo of Bennett with his arm draped over Maggie’s shoulders. The two of them are smiling. The fact that he looks younger throws me for a moment, but it’s the sight of this completely different Maggie that really jars me. She looks so old and frail, gaunt, and nothing like her 1995 self. Bennett takes the picture away from me and puts it facedown on the desk.
I look around again. I picture my room— its walls plastered with paper race numbers and photos, its shelves lined with CDs and trophies— and realize there’s a lot less of him in his room. But then I spot an oversize glass bowl on the nightstand next to his bed, and I know exactly what’s inside. Something that’s uniquely him.
Bennett’s BedroomIn Time After Time, Bennett starts to see his own room a bit differently now that Anna’s been there.
Time After Time
Bennett’s room from his point of view
After an hour at the climbing gym with Sam and a rushed dinner with my parents, I head upstairs to start on my homework.
I navigate to the school website and check this week’s assignments. I have a couple of hours of reading for Chemistry, a paper due in two weeks on the rise of the Tigris-Euphrates civilization, and an essay I’m supposed to begin writing for English.
I lean back with my arms folded behind my head, staring up at the ceiling. Until recently, I’d never really thought much about my bedroom. Mom had it professionally decorated when we moved in four years ago, and I don’t recall picking out a single thing. Unlike Anna’s room, there are no posters on my walls, no maps of the world, no bookshelves filled with trophies and CD cases.
It’s just really white. White walls. White ceiling. White rug. White comforter. The desk is glass and metal, but that does very little to break up the monotony. The only color in the room comes from the huge canvas painting my mom bought at an art auction a couple of years ago, and the red glass bowl— overflowing with ticket stubs from every live concert I’ve ever seen— that’s perched on the nightstand next to my bed. Aside from that bowl, this room could belong to anyone.
Playlist Time!
Time After Time: Anna's Shelf
Time After Time: Anna's Shelf
Alanis Morissette – Head Over Feet
The Smashing Pumpkins – Tonight, Tonight
Blind Melon – No Rain
Radiohead – High And Dry
Dave Matthews Band – The Best Of What's Around
Better Than Ezra – Good
The Cranberries – Linger
Counting Crows – Time And Time Again
Alice In Chains – No Excuses
Foo Fighters – Big Me
Bush – Machinehead
Stone Temple Pilots – Interstate Love Song
Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories – Do You Sleep?
No Doubt – Don't Speak
Everything But The Girl – Time After Time
The Smashing Pumpkins – Tonight, Tonight
Blind Melon – No Rain
Radiohead – High And Dry
Dave Matthews Band – The Best Of What's Around
Better Than Ezra – Good
The Cranberries – Linger
Counting Crows – Time And Time Again
Alice In Chains – No Excuses
Foo Fighters – Big Me
Bush – Machinehead
Stone Temple Pilots – Interstate Love Song
Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories – Do You Sleep?
No Doubt – Don't Speak
Everything But The Girl – Time After Time
Time After Time: Bennett's Shelf
The Neighbourhood – Sweater Weather
Angus & Julia Stone – Just A Boy
The Lumineers – Ho Hey
The Raconteurs – Consoler Of The Lonely
Foo Fighters – On The Mend
Silversun Pickups – Here We Are (Chancer)
Guster – Satellite
3 Doors Down – When I'm Gone
Incubus – Wish You Were Here
Green Day – Brain Stew
Tonic – If You Could Only See
Foo Fighters – Rope
Eddie Vedder – Without You
Train – If It's Love
Pearl Jam – Black
Coldplay – High Speed
Green Day – Good Riddance [Time Of Your Life]
Angus & Julia Stone – Just A Boy
The Lumineers – Ho Hey
The Raconteurs – Consoler Of The Lonely
Foo Fighters – On The Mend
Silversun Pickups – Here We Are (Chancer)
Guster – Satellite
3 Doors Down – When I'm Gone
Incubus – Wish You Were Here
Green Day – Brain Stew
Tonic – If You Could Only See
Foo Fighters – Rope
Eddie Vedder – Without You
Train – If It's Love
Pearl Jam – Black
Coldplay – High Speed
Green Day – Good Riddance [Time Of Your Life]
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