Page 60 of If You Say So

according to Gabe and Ember—he hung up.

I looked at my phone that was now black, then looked back up at the flashing lights.

Then sighed.

My eyes once again went to my neighbors, and this time I didn’t stop the urge to stare.

I wanted what they had.

I wanted a family. I wanted a husband. I wanted to sit outside on my porch with my arms wrapped

around them, wondering what was going on across the street.

I wanted it all.

But, the problem was, I couldn’t have it all.

I had to start over.

Had to find someone to have it all with.

A sharp cough had me looking up just in time to see a reflective flash of yellow light up the night about five houses down.

When the reflection got closer and closer, I realized that the reflection was actually a running belt that was wrapped around Riel’s waist.

The closer he got, the sweatier I realized he was.

At first, I thought that his t-shirt was a dark, dark gray.

Only, it wasn’t dark gray. It was light gray.

The only reason I could tell that was because there was one single spot at the bottom of Riel’s t-

shirt that was untouched by his sweat.

“Hey,” I said, standing up. “You’re running?”

I wanted to smack myself in the face the moment those words came out of my mouth.

“Yeah.” He grinned. “I am.”

I shook my head at my words.

“How far did you go?” I asked curiously.

He shrugged. “I have no idea. I just run. An hour and a half or so. Sleep seems to be coming in

waves for me. When I can’t sleep, and it’s late enough, I just get up and run.”

His explanation made my heart hurt.

When Luca hadn’t been able to sleep, I’d stayed up with him and watched Netflix until I would

fall asleep again.

He’d never turn the show on himself.

But when I turned it on, he finally had the excuse he needed to watch it.

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