Cursive - By Phoebe Lane Page 0,20

the hospital while they're getting treatments. She organizes fundraising activities to help those families out."

"Wow, that's amazing."

"She’s got great vision," he said with obvious admiration. "We have one of the fundraisers coming up in a few weeks. We do one every year at Langley. We give the proceeds to her charity and cover all the cost of food and drinks for the night. You should come. I'm sure my mom would love to meet you."

"Sounds like this cause is very personal for you as well," Aislynn pointed out. Jace's shoulders immediately squared and tensed up, and his eyes became distant. "I'm sorry. Did I say something wrong?"

"No, everything's fine. I'm sorry," he said, kissing her hand and resting it on his thigh.

She noticed. Keep it together.

"Did you have a good time tonight?" he asked as he walked her to her door, trying to change the subject.

"I did. I really did", she said, a soft pink blush coloring her face. "So how exactly do we end a reverse date?"

"What reverse date?" he said, feigning confusion. "I don't know what you're talking about. This is the end of the date and I plan to kiss you…quite a bit."

"I can totally get onboard with that plan," she said.

Jace kissed her and immediately felt the adrenaline course through his body. All he could think about was how her lips felt on his, how her soft hair tangled in his fingers, and how soft and warm her skin felt beneath his hands. He wanted to touch her, everywhere, all at once. He wanted to crawl inside her head and learn all her secrets. He could sense she had many, and so did he, but it wasn't time to give them all up.

"I'm leaving for New York tomorrow night. But I would like to see you when I get back."

Aislynn walked into her apartment and watched Jace drive away through the living room window. Catching her reflection in the glass, she finally saw what Ellie had pointed out earlier. She looked alive. She was very proud of the fact that she had allowed herself to open up to Jace and tell him some things about her past. It had been hard, but she had gotten through it.

It was surprisingly easy for her to fall asleep that night. This was in strong contrast to the horrible nightmare that woke her up around three in the morning.

She remembered sitting at a street café eating pie with a beautiful green-eyed woman she didn’t recognize. The woman asked her questions about her family and tenderly wiped away her tears when Aislynn started crying. All of a sudden, they heard people screaming and running down the street in their direction, a fifty feet wave of water chasing after them, just like in an end-of-the-world movie. Aislynn ran as fast as she could, trying to hang on to the woman’s hand, but eventually lost track of her. She ran into a building to find shelter, locking herself inside a room, which she then recognized as the hospital call room where she used to work. It only took a minute for the water to start slipping into the room. Aislynn gathered towels and blankets and pushed them under the door to stop the water from coming in, but soon realized it wasn’t water anymore. It was blood.

Aislynn woke up drenched in sweat, eyes swollen, the salt of her tears dried up in her skin. She didn't need to be a psychiatrist to understand what was going on in her head. There would be no more sleep for her that night.

You're allowing this to get really complicated.

"What's going on? You sound tired," Jace said on the phone. He was still in New York for business, but they had spoken every night since their date and texted often.

"I am. I haven't been able to sleep for a few days now."

"Why? Are you sick?" he asked with concern. It comforted Aislynn to realize he cared enough to worry.

"No, I don't think so. This happens every once in a while. I just need to get through it, I guess."

"You're a doctor. Can't you prescribe yourself something to help you sleep?" he suggested.

"I've tried that, but it really doesn’t work out too well for me," Aislynn said, glancing over at her closet where the box with her wedding dress had ended up. After the sleepwalking incident, Ellie had offered to get rid of it—actually, she offered to tear it apart and make sofa cushions out of it—but Aislynn