"He was fine," Alex assured him. "They all were, more or less. No permanent harm done." He decided against telling Michael about that time Alex had found Maria on the beach. Or about the time Alex himself had ended up there. Death wasn't always a permanent feature in the city and it was probably better not to mention that part of it until he was here longer and understood that.

But something about that question or maybe the way Michael was looking at him made Alex pause.

"What's the last thing you remember from back home?" he asked. Because Alex remembered so much. More than he had when he first got here. Back when he'd just been a man waiting on Michael's steps, waiting in vain for him to come back and for them to start over.

But things had worked out in the end.