The Seven Year Slip

Clementine and Iwan arrive at a bright yellow food truck called “Yo Mama’s Fajitas” that Iwan’s friends Miguel and Isa own. Iwan introduces Clementine as Lemon, saying they are old acquaintances. Clementine realizes that these are the same fajitas that he made her the first night they met, which he had told her was the recipe of a friend whom he was going to convince to get a food truck. Clementine sees more of the old Iwan in him as he jokes around with his friends. They talk about the past as they eat their fajitas, and Iwan mentions how his grandfather passed shortly after he started at the Olive Branch. Iwan seems to Clementine somewhat regretful about the past seven years, though he only says he regrets not being there for her. Clementine asks why he never tried to find her, and she is confused when he tells her she wouldn’t have believed him if he tried.

Iwan reveals that he knows about the time slip, and how, if he had found her seven years earlier, she would not have known him. Clementine knows this must mean that she sees him in the past at least once more, but when she asks about it, he refuses to tell her what happened then. Miguel and Isa join them after they close the food truck, and they joke about their days in culinary school. Isa asks Clementine why she loves publishing, but she doesn't feel the passion she used to feel for it. When Iwan goes to throw out their trash, Isa and Miguel lament about how they think Iwan is going to burn out. While Clementine tries to add that he is doing it to make his grandfather proud, Miguel wonders when he will do something for himself. The old friends continue to talk about the past, and Miguel and Isa remember how Iwan was obsessed with a girl named Clementine.

Iwan walks Clementine to the subway as she continues to think about their past together, but when she tries to kiss him, he pulls away. He mentions how she is off-limits, and Clementine recognizes how she nearly jeopardized her professionalism for him. As she leaves, she thinks about how nothing can stay forever.

When she returns to her apartment, Clementine is shocked to see Iwan there, seven years in the past. Clementine knows she is breaking her aunt’s rule about falling in love in the apartment as the two have sex, and she knows the inevitable end of this relationship will shatter her.

The next morning, Iwan sees that the two pigeons that live outside the apartment have been watching them, and Clementine starts to believe her aunt’s story that they are the same two birds that had been there indefinitely. Clementine accidentally refers to Analea in the past tense and Iwan notices, leading her to want to tell him the truth about the magical apartment, but she lies instead. Iwan suggests that they go out in the city that day, causing Clementine to panic. As soon as he steps out of the apartment, Iwan vanishes, leaving Clementine alone in the present.

Clementine tries to go back to the past again but is unable to. Outside, a storm has begun, and she remembers how Analea always made a point of dancing in the rain. Earl the doorman tells Clementine she has something in her mailbox, and she finds a handwritten letter from Vera. Panicking, Clementine invites Drew and Fiona out to dinner for an emergency meeting, but the restaurant they want to go to is busy. They instead go to Yo Mama’s Fajitas. When asked about it, Clementine is forced to tell the half-truth that James Ashton had shown her the food truck the night before, and her friends are both surprised. Clementine shows them the letter from Vera, and Fiona suggests that Clementine needs to break the news of Analea’s death to Vera as she hadn’t known that the two had kept in touch.

Miguel and Isa are happy to see Clementine, but Drew and Fiona are surprised when they call her Lemon and mention Iwan, who happens to be there. Clementine runs into him and notices that, like her, he is extremely hungover from the night before, despite their respective nights being seven years apart. Clementine reminds herself that Iwan is off-limits as she guides her friends away from the food truck so they don’t see him.

Over the next few days, Clementine thinks about Vera and why Analea had stayed in the apartment even after her heartbreak, but she refuses to read Vera’s letter. At work, Rhonda talks to Clementine about her promotion, where she is reminded that both the imprint and her career are dependent upon her acquiring James Ashton’s book. She remembers how she spent the summer seven years earlier, when Analea convinced Clementine to go with her on vacation. She thinks of the woman she used to be, and how she has since tried to turn herself into someone like Rhonda instead. Drew submits the second proposal for Iwan’s book, and Lauren invites their team to the soft opening of his new restaurant. Clementine asks Drew and Fiona to go with her to return the letter to Vera.