We’ll meet Cali at Red Door in a little while. Right now, a band is playing and people are dancing beneath some strung-up lights.

“Come on, Tiger, my star pupil. I want to show you off.”

Here with him on this crisp, pleasant evening in my upside-down life as the days grow shorter rather than longer, wrapped in his competent arms, bound together by our monstrous ties, and maybe by something beautiful and new, it feels more than ever like love. But what happens when winter comes? Am I really going to stay here, be pregnant here? Have a child with this man?

G leads me off the dance floor, and I can see a hundred eyes clinging to us. I know I only looked so dazzling out there just now because of his expertise, but still. I feel purely happy in a way I haven’t in years. Suddenly, it all feels possible.

Then, I see him. He’s getting up from a chair in the courtyard where people sit drinking wine and eating empanadas, enjoying the mild evening and watching the dancers. I’m tempted to think he’s nothing more than another ghost made material by my subconscious, the way I keep hearing Luke’s laugh in crowded rooms or seeing Penny in the faces of every petite woman I see. But his eyes are locked solidly on mine, those warm familiar blues. I feel my mouth drop into an O. I tell G I’ll meet him at Red Door in a little while. I’m walking away before he can react, my tether to him unspooling.

“Who is that?” G grasps at my hand, barely missing it. His jealousy might excite me a little any other time, but right now, I just want to get to him.

“A friend from home,” I say. “Go, I’ll be there soon.” I feel him bristle at being told what to do, but I’m already moving away from him.

“Liz,” G calls out as I get a couple of steps away. I turn around and he winks at me; I smile and roll my eyes.

“Blair,” I whisper as I put my arms around his neck, melting into his arms, taking in his scent, which is of every good thing about home, everything I miss about my past. “What are you doing here?”

If the fact of his solid, lean body in my arms wasn’t so certain, I wouldn’t believe it was him. How long has he been here watching?

“What do you think I’m doing here, Bomber? Kjersti told me she ran into you. She e-mailed me and said you were living here. She knows I’ve been trying to track you down.”

For a moment, I just stare at him, thunderstruck. “You came all the way down here to see me?”

He shrugs. “You weren’t answering my e-mails.”