Calvin had turned to follow Katie with his gaze, not even trying to be anything less than obvious because she was so oblivious, but as she settled in by the cash register he stepped behind a display of something colorful and watched her through a gap at the top of the display. She checked her phone, then looked up and smiled in the direction of the door, but the light had changed so he knew it wasn't real. Damn. He glanced over to see who it was anyway and was blinded by the sunrise over the ocean. A gull cried and he lifted his eyes to see the ceiling of the clothing store.
When he looked down, Katie was standing right in front of him; obviously she'd just rounded the corner of the display. On the off chance that she was real, he told her a little wildly, "I was just looking for--" he picked up the nearest brightly colored object. A women's scarf. "A scarf. For my mom. For mother's day." Which was in May. Think fast! "I wanted to get it early so she wouldn't guess." He ran his fingers across the smooth material of the scarf. It felt real. He closed his hand around it like it was an anchor he could hold on to, then glanced at Katie to see if she'd noticed. He stiffened his spine and smiled like there was nothing wrong. This was real, wasn't it?