Page 36 of Stranded

Alph closes the door and heads around to the driver’s side, and I roll my head back, keeping my hands folded on my lap.

Think unsexy thoughts. Think unsexy thoughts. Think unsexy thoughts…

We’re both quiet all the way to the seafront parkade. It’s an open-walled concrete building with enough parking for everyone who lives, works, and plays at the harbour. Alph drives into a spot that overlooks Sunrise Island and shuts off the car.

I glance over, and then I stare.

This is the first time I’ve seen him look at anything else the way he watches me when he doesn’t think I’m looking… like a pretty bird he can’t quite understand, or a flower he’s studying to draw later. Or a tree he’s proud to have known all his life.

Alph catches my gaze and smiles. “This is it.”

“Yeah.” I grin back at him, unbuckling and opening my door. “I’ve turned the page on that chapter of my life.”

“Ready to head home and start a new one?” Alph asks, his voice echoing from the concrete floors and ceilings.

It takes him a minute to unfold himself and get out of a hatchback that doesn’t look like it should fit him, so I glance over the harbour again.

I’ve seen Sunrise Island so many times from the windows at my campus, perched on a hillside overlooking the harbour. But I’ve never appreciated it as much as I do now, watching it shimmer through the warm haze like it’s welcoming me home.

When Alph emerges and slams the door, I grin at him.

“Are you kidding? I was born ready.”

Chapter

Fourteen

ALPH

Summer really is almost over.Ronan’s first day back at college is tomorrow, and I’m happy for him. I really am. But I can’t stop thinking about how much I’ll miss having him around all the time.

It’s bittersweet, but that was always the deal. Ronan is destined for great things. He’s going to be busy sewing his heart out, running between classes, and who knows what else? I’m just being greedy, wanting to spend as much time as I can around him.

There’s just one more thing left to do: I have to give him the tour.

Ronan has wandered around Sunrise on his own, but there’s so much more to know about this place. He loved the idea when I suggested it over breakfast, so after work, I spent the afternoon making us a picnic, while Ronan sneakily wandered through the kitchen to nibble at whatever I make.

I think we’re finally ready.

I’m not going to re-check the backpack again. This isn’t the wilderness. I can come back for anything in fifteen minutes, if it’s that important.

“We’re ready to go,” I call out, but I don’t get an answer.

I shoulder the backpack, sticking my head through the living room doorway.

I can’t help my smile.

Ronan’s already made himself at home in the living room. Half of it is taken up with his sewing machine, boxes of schoolwork, materials, and who knows what else. The other half is like an artist’s studio, and currently covered in papers with sketchy lines and bursts of colour.

Despite what he said to me and Carter, he won’t yet show me any of his work. He gets all embarrassed and mutters things about how it’s not ready to see the world, so I want to respect him… but I can also see some of it from here.

And I don’t know much about anything, but it looks good to me.

So does Ronan. He’s lying on his front on the couch, humming softly to himself. He’s bent his knees and crossed his ankles to wave his legs up and down in the air like a mermaid. But the best part is watching him furiously scribble in his notebook, nose scrunched with concentration.

It makes my heart melt to see him like this—happy and in his element.

Safe, at last.

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