She could have hidden her relief, and didn't. Quickly following him, she reached for his hand and twisted her thin fingers in with his - almost unaware that she'd done it until it was done. And then she didn't want to undo it. It wasn't right; he wasn't hers. But he felt like hers, in so many ways. This was confusing. All of this was so confusing and wrong. She still didn't let go.
The City was on her side, or so it seemed. The City park was not two blocks down from the Manchester, today. She remembered walking the festival that had been here in the park. She remembered looking into the park from the outside, feeling nothing like interest. It was a strange thing, a strange thing indeed, to have two conflicting memories of the same time and day. Evey found a bench under a tree looking out across rolling meadow hills. It was nothing like what she was used to seeing. It was tame and quiet.
She sat down and waited for Aidan to join her. Took a breath. Squared her shoulders. "I wish I could say that I came only to check on you," she said, the words dragging out of her painfully. "But it's nothing so easy as that."