Lily stood in her backyard with Caleb, feeling the warmth of his hand in her hand. He awkwardly let her hand go.

“I’m sorry,” he said, “about before.”

“That’s okay,” she said. Now it was okay.

“I was rude,” he said. He had the same low comforting voice in real life that he had in Alinora.

She said nothing.

“I just honestly believed it was all a dream,” he continued.

“I understand,” she said. “It is crazy to think it could be real.” She stared at the ground. “Of course, I couldn’t ignore it,” she said, pointing to her stomach.

“I know,” he said. He suddenly stepped closer to her and put a hand on her arm, “Do you want to sit?”

“Yes,” she said, smiling, as he led her back to the picnic table. They sat down, facing the yard, with the table to their backs.

There was another awkward silence. She supposed it made sense that they should have to start all over in this world, getting to know each other again.

“I spoke to the seer in Alinora,” he said. “Sasha.”

“Oh?” she said.

He nodded. “She told me everything. About the world. How it’s real, how we ended up there.”

“So now here we are,” she said. “Both of us knowing the truth.”

He nodded and looked out into the trees. “It’s so much easier there, isn’t it?” he said.

“Yes,” she agreed. Then nervously reached out for his hand. He let her. He turned to her again and smiled.

They spent the rest of the day together. Awkwardly talking like people on a first date. She showed him her house. They made dinner together. Turned out he was a vegetarian. Molly got a plate of food too. It was a weird day. Realizing she barely knew the man whose baby she was seven months pregnant with.

When he left that night he gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek at her front door. He and Molly were going to walk home along the road. She’d offered him a ride, but he’d said no. She watched them walk away, out of sight, then she closed her door. She went and sat down on the couch in her living room, exhausted.

It was like she was mentally exhausted. The way she used to be at work, after smoothing things over with clients or between coworkers. Things were not easy outside of Alinora. They’d talked all day, but Caleb hadn’t revealed much about himself. She’d told him all about herself, though. Things that in Alinora would seem unimportant.

She’d grown up in another city, an only child. Her family had had money, not a ton, but she had gone to all the best schools. Her parents had waited ’til they were older to adopt her. Both had died years ago. Her mother of lung cancer—she had smoked, and her father of a heart attack.

Her parents had been great people. Nice and comforting and helpful. Supportive when she’d decided to move to a smaller town and start her own business. They’d died within a year of each other. True love. That’s what people said. Her father was too sad without her mother.

They would have loved to have a grandchild. She got a little teary as she looked down at her pregnant stomach and ran a hand over it. The baby smacked her hand from inside. Such a smartie. She smiled.

Her parents didn’t end up in Alinora after their deaths, apparently. You probably had to know about it beforehand and choose to go there. She let herself get a little mopey about her parents. Then cursed her pregnancy hormones again, and got up to go to bed.

She snuggled up under her covers, realizing she’d have to go check out of her hotel room tomorrow, and get her things. She should have done it tonight, but… she drifted off to sleep.

She woke to the sound of a waterfall. She was lying in the grass near it. It was daylight, and beautiful. She sat up.

Suddenly she heard something rush out of the water and saw Caleb burst out of the river near the waterfall. He quickly scrambled onto the shore, shivering. He had something in his hand.

She was shocked by his sudden appearance. But she smiled and crawled over to him.

“Look,” he said, opening his hand. He held four pretty little polished stones. Of various colors. Not gemstones, but the colors were rich. Green, blue, mauve, amber.

“Beautiful,” she said.

“For you,” he said, as he took her hand and poured the stones into it. His hand was cold.

“Thank you,” she said smiling. And then she kissed him. His lips were cold too.

He pulled away, smiled at her and then helped her up as he stood. They said nothing about meeting in the real world. He just took her hand and started leading her through the trees. They reached the meadow, the sun sparkled there. They kept walking through the trees until they got to their garden. He stopped to pick many fruits from the trees and bushes there, then led her into the house.

“You are tired,” he said, leading her to the couch. She didn’t argue. He offered her a handful of berries. She set her stones on a table nearby and took the berries, blackberries. She ate them and felt the energy of Alinora surge through her again. She had missed that.

He went to the counter and cut the rest of the fruit into small pieces. Then sat next to her on the couch feeding them to her and eating some himself.

She put her feet up on a footstool in front of her. He leaned over and put his arm around her waist, around her stomach. He nibbled her ear. Then he took a bite of fruit and kissed her. She felt lost in his presence again. His lips were warm now. And so were his hands.

He stood up and gently led her to the bedroom. They made love and lay tangled in each other’s arms. She felt him fall asleep as she lay caressing his arm that was thrown over her body. And then quietly, like a mist, he disappeared. He must have woken up in real life. She rolled over and faced the side of the bed where he had just been. She closed her eyes and fell asleep herself. She woke what seemed like hours later in her own house in reality, with a smile on her face.

* * *