Love's Redemption (Chris and Maddie)

"If you'd done this sooner, Chris wouldn't have left," Lisa suddenly said.

Bringing up an ex in front of a current partner could really mess things up.

But I knew that Lisa wasn't trying to hurt me. She was actually trying to get a reaction from Brandon. I saw her wink at me, which made me realize that she was testing him. No guy would like to hear about his girlfriend's ex. Lisa wanted to see how Brandon would react.

She was bold, not caring if she might upset Brandon.

I looked at Brandon, but his face didn't change at all.

Lisa pressed, "Mr. Howell, don't you agree?"

I stayed quiet.

"Mae only acts cute with me," Brandon said, sounding really affectionate. His answer was so sweet that it made the whole moment feel romantic.

Lisa clicked her tongue. "Mr. Howell, you seem like a tech guy, but you've actually got a romantic side."

"Chemistry has quantum reactions, which change every time based on quantum entanglement," Brandon said, explaining that his romance would be like a scientific mystery. Brandon's way of mixing science with love was really impressive.

you definitely deserve to win Maddie's

Meeting Brandon felt like

thank Jewel," Lisa said with a

what she meant. "Yes, if it weren't for her, I might not

my head on Brandon's shoulder, enjoying

eat too much, or your lovey-dovey talk might have made

just showing you how it's done.

hospital lobby. Just before

to a different area. When I tried to say hi, he walked right past us and headed toward

felt like we were

I could tell I was getting

while we checked the test results. Everything looked fine. The fever I

had to head back to work, so Brandon and I went to visit Ellie. She seemed down, probably because her surgery

advice, I talked about other things and mentioned a concert coming up. "Would you like

go?" Ellie asked,

of her heart condition, she had