“Uh-huh,” was all I was capable of in way of response. Too much of my energy was needed to keep myself from pulling him back onto me.

“I realized that I never really answered that question.” He propped himself up on his elbow and looked down at me.

God, he was beautiful.

“Oh?” I wondered if I would ever be capable of intelligent speech again. It seemed that since my tongue had found more entertaining activities it wasnʼt going to do something so mundane as assist me with the whole talking thing.

“I thought you should know that the answer is yes. I love you, Scout.”

“You canʼt be in love with me,” I heard myself say, my rebellious mouth finally deciding to work.

His posture went from lounging to bracing without much in the way of movement. “I canʼt?”

“You barely know me,” I said. “Iʼm just the coyoteʼs sister youʼre supposed to stay away from. I get the whole ʻforbidden fruitʼ attraction, but thatʼs not love. If Toby hadnʼt told you to leave me alone, you wouldnʼt have given me a second glance. You would have realized what a loser I am a long time ago.”

It broke my heart to say everything I had been thinking out loud. I didnʼt want him to realize I was unworthy of his affection, but things were going too far. We were both going to end up hurt if it didnʼt end soon.

“You are not a loser.”

“Oh, I promise you, I am. I have a very long list of character references that will be happy to confirm that for you.”

“And Iʼm not just with you because youʼre ʻforbiddenʼ.” The back of his fingers grazed my jaw line. “I know exactly who you are, and I love you.”

“How?” I was desperate for him to convince me, for it to be true.

Alex raised himself into a sitting position in a move so quick and graceful that a normal human wouldnʼt have been able to achieve it. “Did you know that Iʼm a dream walker?” I too sat up, though much more slowly and awkwardly than he had. “I thought only females were Seers.” I also thought that we were talking about our relationship.

“Iʼm not a Seer. Sometimes a strong line of Seers can produce a male that has some extra talents. I canʼt do any of that cool brain talking stuff, but sometimes I can See things when Iʼm asleep.”

We were facing each other, my hand on his knee, his braceleting my ankle. “What sort of things?”

One side of his mouth tugged upwards and his eyes shone brightly. “I was eight years old the first time it happened. In the dream there was an apple tree full of little green apples. The air was heavy and sweet smelling, the summer sun suffocatingly hot.

“A couple of kids around my age were playing. I tried to talk to them, but they didnʼt hear or see me.

“On one of the high branches was this huge, perfect apple. It was at least twice the size of any of the others. One of the girls was determined to get it. She climbed up to the top and crawled slowly out to the edge. Her hand closed on it just as the branch snapped and threw her to the ground.

“I ran over, thinking that I could help. Her arm was laying at a funny angle, and she was trying hard not to scream. I told her that it was going to be okay, that one of the boys had already gone to get help, but it did no good. I wasnʼt really there.” Alexʼs thumb ran over my wrist, tracing the scars where the doctor had put pins in to hold the bones in place. “I forced my mom to help me look for you the next day. I knew that if I looked hard enough, I would find you, even though Mom kept saying there were no apple trees anywhere near our house.”

“You saw me break my arm?” It was impossible, yet he described it just as it happened.

Jase had bet me I couldnʼt pick the big apple at the top, and I was determined to prove that I could. Talley begged me to climb down, but I was stubborn. After I fell, Jase ran back home to get Dad while Charlie and Talley stayed with me. I broke both my radius and ulna and had to wear an itchy cast for months.

“Iʼve been dreaming of you for ten years,” he said. “I could never remember what anyone else looked like, or very many details about the location, but your face and voice have always been perfectly clear.”

“Thatʼs...” crazy? sweet? creepy? “impossible.” Alex smiled. “Shall I prove it?”

Part of me didnʼt want him to. The whole thing was freaking me out a little. What all had he seen? What did it mean that he dreamt of me? I was terrified of the answer, but I had to know.

He nodded towards the picture by my door. “I remember that day. There was a vine hanging from a tree that the others were using to swing out over the lake and jump into the water. You didnʼt want to do it because youʼre scared of heights.”

“Falling from the top of an apple tree can do that to a girl,” I said.

“Somehow they managed to talk you into trying it. You were shaking like a leaf, but you did it anyway.” A grin nearly split his face in two. I covered my face in horror, knowing what was coming next. “You were so proud of yourself when you came up out of the water you didnʼt immediately realize that you had lost the top of your swimsuit.”

“Oh. My. God.” Mom had wrapped a towel around me before I knew what was happening.

Jase had laughed so hard I thought, or perhaps hoped, he would rupture something. He didnʼt stop until Charlie pantsed him to “even the score”. “I cannot believe you saw that.”

“Are you kidding? That was one of the best nights of my life!”

“So, youʼve been enjoying a gag reel of my most embarrassing moments in your sleep for ten years?”

“Not just the embarrassing ones. Iʼve seen you laugh and cry and grow into a beautiful, amazing person.” His eyes, full of sincerity, were locked onto mine. “By the time I was eleven I knew I was in love with you. I was always eager to go to sleep. The mornings that I woke up without having seen you were beyond disappointing. I memorized every detail of you, from the arch of your eyebrows to the way you tilt your head and stare off into space when youʼre really thinking hard. I didnʼt know your name or where you lived, but I knew you were real. I knew that you were my destiny.”

Since meeting Alex I had my fair share of surreal experiences, but this one was even more astonishing and overwhelming than the others put together. He loved me because I was his destiny. That seemed like an awful big expectation to meet.

“Did you move here to find me?” I couldnʼt imagine it - packing up and moving across the country to find someone you had only met in a dream.