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Humiliation burned beneathand jerking open the door I rushed into the frozen air again The jacket helped, but it wouldn’t haveon the ice, e me forward

I didn’t realize until I locked the door to , that my cheeks were covered in frozen tears I was such an idiot And ha heart attack Or, more likely, my heart had just broken

Either way, I realized my mistake – my attention was not where it should have been – when a rabbed my arm

8

A lot of people are alive because

I shed too et aith ed sous as I tried to karate-chop the intruder Sadly, I didn’t know karate And he was very well versed in escape and evasion He easily sidestepped my blow and ducked past the next one

"It’s ain

I jerked out of his grip "What the fuck, Ian?"

"Where have you been?"

I gaped at hirilling led a key in front of my face, his watery blue eyes waterier than usual He’d been drinking "I orried about you" As though that would explain away the key

"How did you get a key totoon the counter, thoroughly annoyed with et James his sandwich, as frozen and uy who lived in an abandoned, partially collapsed shed across the street fromas I walked home from work, and I finally stopped to talk to him one day He wouldn’t come out of his cubby of boxes and blankets, but he did tell me his name was James and that he was from the planet Hazelnut Before that, I’d had no idea there even was a planet named Hazelnut, but I totally wanted toloved science

"I had one ency," he said

I wiped at one too far It was tiave me a ride back to the café I would have borrowed Mabel’s car, which had actually been reat-nephew had borrowed it again That kid was such an inconvenience

"I orried about you," Ian continued "You freaking passed out at work You could have a concussion"

"I don’t Soht me before I hit the floor"

Euy You don’t know hiain?"

When he dangled the key a second time, I swiped it out of his hand