109

ALAYNA

Brandon and I go for a stroll in a quiet residential street around my apartment. I texted Mom an excuse about bumping into a friend, adding that I’d be back soon. I just don’t know how she will react when I tell her Brandon is here. She still resents him, and I can’t blame her.

We are holding hands like a normal couple walking on the streets, our fingers intertwined as though nothing happened for the past five months, and it’s all so astonishing I can’t believe it’s real.

But it is. It really is.

“What? Keep staring at me like that, and I’ll have to have you in that street.” He laughs softly and points to a dark alley, but I just can’t stop gawking at his perfect face.

“Just in case this isn’t real.”

He grins sweetly. “How am I going to prove to you that it is?” I’ve never seen him as calm as this before.

“What happened to you, Brandon? You were gone, and you just show up in the streets of Seattle as if nothing happened.”

“This is a decent spot you got here,” he says. “Congratu