I couldn't believe my eyes as I stood before the full-length mirror in the bedroom. Brandon had called a stylist to take care of my hair and my makeup for the party. And now that I'd added the outfit we'd picked the day before, it was like seeing another person in the mirror. Hand to heart, I had no idea I could look so pretty.

He came to stand behind me and rested his hands on my shoulders, looking up and down my reflection with his warm smile.

"Look. That's my favorite top model ever," he whispered in my ear.

Before I could argue, he produced his phone and circled my waist with his arm, sticking to my side for the classic mirror picture.

He turned to me and his eyes slid down to my lips. "Fuck. I should let you at least get to the party with your makeup untouched, right?"

"You better," I replied, dying to kiss him.

He raised a finger and hurried to his bag, from where he came back with a longish black velvet case. My frown made him smile.

"Fear not. It isn't a diamond ring," he said, making me face the mirror again.

I opened the case and my eyes widened like grapefruits. It was a delicate white gold chain with a tiny gem. A white, sparkly gem. He took the chain and placed it around my neck, locking it under my hair.

"Oh, Brandon, this is..." I mumbled, overwhelmed.

"This is to match the ring, if there's ever one," he whispered.

I felt my eyes just about to well and breathed deep. The mascara and all were supposed to be waterproof, but I wasn't taking any chances. I met his eyes in the mirror, shaking my head slightly, moved past words.

He helped me wear my coat and grabbed his jacket. Only then I paused to notice he was wearing jeans and sneakers.

"Wait. You're going like that?"

He winked, grabbing my hand. "The perks of being a star: your presence is enough to make them overlook your outfit."

"Oh, gosh, aren't you humble!"

I think I can say it was one of the funniest nights of my life, if not the funniest. The nightclub was small and crowded, and everybody welcomed Brandon with loud voices and hugs. He wouldn't let go of my hand come hell or high water, and that helped me feel more confident. I lost count of all the people I was introduced to, and it was nice to see I was far from being the only one under thirty. We danced till my feet hurt, and had champagne, and talked with our host and other guests.

When midnight showed up around the corner, we joined everybody on the dance floor and counted down the last seconds of the old year. And then I greeted the new year in his arms, kissing like Doomsday was upon us to compensate for all the previous hours caring about my makeup.

I loved everything about that night. Seeing Brandon with his old classmates, being fun and goofy like any regular guy, the way his hand would drop mine only to put his arm around my shoulders.

A light snowfall waited for us on the street when we left, and we cruised down the deserted streets still joking and laughing.

Back to his suite, he didn't let me turn any light on. He led me to the large windows across the living area and took me in his arms like I loved him to.

"Don't move," he whispered by my lips.

He took his sweet time to strip me down, until I was wearing nothing but his diamond.

Morning found us still cuddling on the couch near the windows.

"So what d'you wanna do?" he asked when we sat down for breakfast at the table in the living area.

Marry you wasn't the answer I think he expected, so I just let it cross my mind and be gone with the wind.

"Options being?" I asked instead.

Over those days, I still found it funny to watch him turn into a grinder whenever he sat down to eat, filling his mouth and chewing nonstop until he polished his plate, no need to pause to breathe or speak.

"Leaving and staying," he said, swallowing, his fork already loaded again.

"We should check the weather first. My tires can handle a little snow, but not a real snowfall."

"Did you see my rental?" he said, his mouth full. "We can go to the fucking north pole in winter on that truck."

"But I left my car parked near Amy's place."

"So what? Let's make sure it can stay there and take my truck. I can bring you to get it on my way to the airport in a few days."

"Okay, let me check with her," I murmured, grabbing my phone.

"Ask her if she can spare me a few," he said while I typed. He saw my questioning frown and shrugged, pointing at the back of his neck with his knife. "I'd like her to check if my node or whatever is fine."

Amy replied right away to invite us both over for lunch.

I felt a cold spot in my belly when we packed and got ready to check out. I'd spent some of the best days of my life in that suite, with Brandon, and leaving felt like leaving those days behind for good. For him, it was just another hotel room, so he shot me a questioning look when I paused at the open door. I just shook my head and tried to smile, taking his hand to head together to the elevators.

Amy was bright and smiling as always. She had the best holiday leftovers I'd ever seen, so she put me to serve a cold lunch while she took Brandon to her office. They took hardly five minutes in there, and their smiles when they joined me back were enough to make an educated guess and assume she'd found Brandon in good energetic health.

"Make time for three reiki sessions in a week, once a month," she was saying when they walked into the dining room. "And keep that on. That gem will help you stay harmonized."

Her words caught my attention, and Brandon showed me the discreet leather bracelet with a small crystal Amy had just given him.

While we had lunch, he brought up the interview he wanted to shoot with Amy at the Manor. She said yes right away.

"Just let me know a couple of weeks in advance, so I can manage my appointments," she said. "What is it gonna be about? What happened over those days?"

Brandon excused himself and left the table, to come back in a minute with his notebook. "Yeah, but there's more," he murmured, flicking through written pages. "I have so many ideas for this, I started taking notes, so I don't forget any." He patted a page. "Here it is. I want you to be sort of the expert consultant, so I don't need just comments on the facts for context, but also like baseline information."

"What does that supposed to mean?" Amy asked.

Brandon was already back to grinder mode, so he needed a moment to chew and swallow before replying, "I need you to explain in lame terms, for everybody to understand, what scavengers and parasites are, the differences between them, their effect on humans. And then use all that to explain what made this one unique to you."

"Oh, well, and then you're gonna give me a transcription and I will have my book about Kujo ready to print."

Amy and I laughed, but Brandon faced her very serious.

"You really mean to write a book about it?"

"She's been threatening from day one," I replied.

"My publisher won't say no if it's me who brings him the manuscript."

Amy raised her eyebrows and tilted her head. "That would be awesome."

"You should have it ready for early September. The special episode or series will air as season finale on Halloween, as usual, and we should have it hit the shelves the next day to take advantage of the wave. I can even bring it up during the narration, 'cause that's the last step of post-production."

"Wait. Are you serious?"

Brandon took his turn to raise his eyebrows. "Of course. It's a win-win. You get your work promoted worldwide, and it gives additional support to my story. Like, it was so real and out of the ordinary, the medium involved wrote a book about it."

Amy turned to me, like asking if he was being serious. I shrugged. "Don't look at me. He's the marketing genius here, not us. If he says it can work, I'd believe him."

She rolled her eyes and turned back to her lunch. "Of course you would say that."

"Hey, that was cold."

"Think about it and let me know," said Brandon like commenting on the weather.

A while later, Amy hugged us both goodbye and we left on the artic vehicle, leaving my car one street away, buried under several inches of snow. The Pike was clean, but we found snow and ice on the road after Worcester. However, we got to Blotter Manor in two hours.

Wish we had stayed in Boston.