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anything out about this place in the meantime. And, hey—” I flicked one of the bare wall switches. A single bulb overhead came on, dimly illuminating our corner. “Light!” I exclaimed.
    We grinned at each other like idiots.
    Davis slung his backpack onto the floor. Unzipping it, he pulled out a blue sweatshirt and spread it out. Then he turned me slowly. “Come here.” His voice was low and husky.
    I closed my eyes and sighed as his hands closed around mine and he pulled me down to the floor.
    We lay there for a long time, holding each other, our bodies pressed hip to hip and thigh to thigh. His mouth moved slowly over my eyes, cheeks, collarbone, shoulders, his lips hot. I lay limply, my head back, eyes closed. I felt as if I’d been drugged, as if everything that had happened since I got off the train was a dream.
    But it wasn’t a dream. He was here, really here. And I wasn’t going to let him go.
    * * *
    I opened my eyes the next morning to bright sunlight streaming through the windows. I put my hand to my stiff neck, temporarily confused. Then I felt Davis’s warm, sleeping body beside me. He was still here—he was actually in London, and we were together. Joy flooded through me, and I rolled over onto my boyfriend, laughing. “Wake up!” I sang, kissing his unshaven cheeks. “It’s morning, wake up!”
    His eyelids fluttered. “Still sleeping,” he mumbled, but as I sank back, he suddenly sat up, his eyes wide open. “Gotcha!” He grabbed me around the waist as I shrieked, and he pulled me onto his lap. “Good morning, beautiful girl.” He kissed me.
    “Good morning.” I stared into his eyes. “I can’t believe you’re actually still here.”
    “In the flesh.” He rubbed his bristly chin. “Can you sneak me up a razor?”
    “Absolutely.” I stood up, then patted down my clothes. “I should probably go home for at least few minutes, right? Before they wake up. But I’ll get away. Meet me at the side of the building in an hour?”
    “Definitely.” He reached up and encircled me in a hug, then blew a kiss at my mouth. “Don’t be gone too long.”
    “I’ll miss you every second. Look.” I pulled his charm from my pocket and watched recognition spread over his face. “I saved it from the crash.”
    He smiled, and I kissed the warm metal and slid it back into my pocket. I was being cheesy, I knew, but I couldn’t help it.
    “See you soon!” I looked back at him as I stepped onto the elevator. He was propped up on one elbow, smiling his sweet smile at me. I gazed at him until the doors closed in front of me.

Five
    The elevator doors opened to our flat entrance. It was still only six in the morning, and my father had gotten back from a quick business trip to Connecticut late last night, so he would be plenty jet-lagged.
    I pressed my ear to the door of the flat, listening carefully. Nothing. Slowly, I slid my key into the lock and eased the door open, half expecting to see my mother in the middle of the living room, her hands on her hips.
    But the only thing there to greet me was the gray London morning pressing at the windows. The kitchen was quiet and neat, too, like a still-life painting of a coffeemaker and a bowl of apples. I practically floated through to the bathroom and turned the water up as hot as it would go—which was lukewarm—before shedding the wrinkled tank top and jeans I’d worn to the Enterprise last night. It seemed like a year ago that I’d put them on.
    Leaning my crutch against the sink, I stood under the weak spray for a long time, letting the water run over my head and down my back. I hummed, soaping my arms, reliving the sweet moments of last night in Davis’s arms. I touched the faint mouth mark he’d left on my neck.
    Shutting off the water, I heard the BBC come on in my parents’ room. I wrapped a towel around my head and, back in my room, pulled on some yoga pants and my favorite UConn T-shirt. I wound my wet hair on top of my head and stuck a