Twice

Vincent wonders if Gianna is the girl Alfie wishes he saved his kiss for, and Alfie admits that she is. He is questioned about why he never used his gift to amass wealth, but Alfie reminds Vincent that his mother warned him against doing so. Vincent muses on his own first kiss, commenting on how a kiss is more enjoyable if the woman is attractive, but Alfie doesn’t necessarily agree.

Alfie entered his high school years and was awkward and skinny despite eating and working out. He craved advice on girls, but his father was no help, and his mother was no longer around. One day, his father announced he was marrying a woman named Adeline, whom he met at a bowling alley and Alfie had never met at all. Alfie’s father promised that their lives wouldn’t be upturned, but the opposite happened, and Adeline immediately started changing rules, calling Alfie by his full name (Alfred, which he hated), and removing photos of his mother. Alfie could not stand the idea of his mother’s memory being erased, and he went back to the day his father and Adeline met. He jumped off his skateboard, injuring himself on purpose to prevent his father from going out that night. Alfie’s efforts were successful, and his father met a much kinder woman a few years later.

Alfie had a crush on a girl named Jo Ann in school, who rejected him and had no interest in him. At the same time, a girl named Lizzie did like Alfie, but he had no interest in her. After talking to Wesley and getting the idea to do everything Jo Ann liked, Alfie went back a year and learned to play basketball, joined the school team, and learned all about Jo Ann’s favorite artist, David Bowie. The scheme worked, and Jo Ann agreed to go out with him and even kissed him; however, she quickly revealed that she was racist when she criticized Alfie for being friends with Wesley (who was Black) and told Alfie that Black people were different from them. Alfie realized all his efforts were wasted on a girl he no longer liked at all. In this second timeline, Alfie then attempted to ask out Lizzie, but she no longer seemed to ever have considered dating him. Alfie did not find out for years why this effect occurred.

Vincent wants to know why the “less attractive” girl lost interest in Alfie the second time around, but Alfie insists that there is much more to say before that can fully be explained, adding that his gift has limits. Vincent is losing his patience but has no choice but to listen.

Alfie’s friend Wesley was already prepared for the Marines and had his college tuition covered, which never surprised Alfie, because Wesley always excelled. Wesley was sure he would be safe because the war in Vietnam was over, and he assured Alfie not to worry. When Wesley left, he returned for only one visit, and then never again. His unit was stationed to go rescue an American vessel and was attacked, and it was assumed that Wesley died. Alfie could not bear the pain of his friend’s death and went back to tell Wesley to take a different position. He even confessed his gift, which he had never done before. Wesley listened to his friend, but died anyway in a freak accident, at the same moment he would have died in the first timeline. Alfie remembered how his mother warned him that he could not prevent death, because God takes who he wants, but Alfie tried anyway and failed. She confessed before dying that she used her gift to turn back her life and do it over as a kinder person, better wife and mother, and missionary.

Vincent is clearly becoming invested in the story and increasingly curious, and while he finds it amazing that Wesley died in the same moment as the attack, he still cannot fully buy into the idea of Alfie being able to redo his own life.

After Wesley’s funeral, Alfie couldn’t bring himself out of depression and realized that nobody truly knew who he was. HIs father sensed his sorrow and drove him down to Disney World, but they left when they saw the long lines. Instead, they went to Miami and found themselves at the zoo. Alfie was attracted by the sound of an elephant’s call, and when he approached the enclosure, a woman nearby started photographing him. Alfie didn’t recognize her at first, but when she mentioned the elephant in Kenya, he knew she was the girl he befriended there. She introduced herself as Gianna Rule, as Alfie had only ever known her as “Princess” before. Alfie immediately noticed her beauty and was taken in by her warm smile.

Vincent is relieved to finally have Gianna in the story, but he mentions that the police will soon arrive to take Alfie to jail if he doesn’t confess. Vincent is convinced Alfie either rigged the roulette wheel or had the casino worker help him win, but he doesn’t know which. When he mentions finding Gianna, Alfie insists she had nothing to do with it, but Vincent knows that Alfie sent Gianna his winnings and then booked a trip to Africa.

Alfie and Gianna spent an hour talking by the elephant enclosure, and Alfie found out all about the places she had been and her dream of being a photographer. When Gianna mentioned going to Boston University, it inspired Alfie to do the same, despite previously floundering in an unfulfilling career as a plumber. Gianna even revealed remembering how she and Alfie talked about getting married one day, which surprised Alfie.