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"Sometimes," I say Which only confuses him more

"Who are you?" he asks

"I’ll tell you," I reply "I promise But let’s order first"

I don’t really trust hi a reciprocal trust It’s still a risk I’ive hiin And then I tell hiain what happened the day I was inside his body I tell him how I knoon’t happen another time

I know that, unlike Rhiannon, he won’t doubt ht to him It fits nicely into his own experience It what he’s always suspected Because in some way, I primed him to remember it I don’t knohy, but when my mind and his mind concocted our cover story, we left a hole in it Now I’ in that hole

When I’uess … so, like, to to be her?"

"No"

"And she’ll …?"

"She’ll have some other memory of today Probably that she met a boy for a date, but that it didn’t work out She won’t reue idea of a person, so if her parents ask tomorroent, she won’t be surprised by the question She’ll never know she wasn’t here"

"So why did I know?"

"Maybe because I left you so fast Maybe I didn’t lay the groundwork for a proper memory Or maybe I wanted you to find me, in some way I don’t know"

Our food, which arrived while I was talking, ree," Nathan says

"You can’t tell anyone," I re you"

"I know, I know" He nods absently, and starts to eat "This is between you and me"

At the end of the meal, Nathan tells me it’s really helped to talk to ain the next day, just so he can see the switch for hiuarantees, but I’ll try

Our parents pick us up On the drive back home, Kasey’s mom asks me hoent

"Good … I think," I tell her

It’s the only truthful thing I tell her the whole ride