Page 50 of Unforgettable
The thought came uninvited.
Closeness.
The question lingered longer than she expected.
By the time they realized how long they had been sitting there, the afternoon had already begun to shift.
Randi glanced toward the window, surprised.
“I didn’t realize how late it was.”
“Neither did I,” Brew admitted.
And there was something in his tone that said he didn’t mind.
Not at all.
Outside, the air had warmed just enough to carry the quiet promise of spring sticking around and not teasing them.
They stepped onto the sidewalk together, neither quite ready to acknowledge that the day was coming to an end.
“I can walk you,” he said. “Or drive you, if you’d rather.”
Randi considered it for a moment, then shook her head lightly.
“It’s a nice day,” she said. “The walk will do me good.”
A small pause.
“I’ll see you next week,” she added.
There it was. Another reminder. The boundary was still there, still real.
He just nodded, as though something in him resisted the simplicity of what would end.
“Well,” he said, his tone shifting just slightly, something warmer slipping through, “try not to break anything on the way home.”
She smiled, the ease returning just enough.
“No promises.”
They stood there a moment longer than necessary.
Neither moving or quite willing to be the one to end it.
“Take care of yourself, Randi,” he said finally.
“You too… Brew.”
The use of his name—without title, without distance—landed quietly between them.
A shift.
A step.
Then she turned, beginning her walk down the sidewalk, her pace steady, deliberate.
He watched her go. Longer than he should have. Longer than he meant to. And when she didn’t look back, he still didn’t move.
