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.

"Mr. Howell, you definitely deserve to win Maddie's heart," Lisa said, giving him a thumbs-up.

I felt proud again. Meeting Brandon felt like a real blessing.

"Maddie, you should thank Jewel," Lisa said with a wink.

I got what she meant. "Yes, if it weren't for her, I might not have met Mr. Howell."

I leaned my head on Brandon's shoulder, enjoying the moment.

"Good thing I didn't eat too much, or your lovey-dovey talk might have made me sick," Lisa joked.

"We're just showing you how it's done. Pay attention," I teased back.

As we joked around, we reached the hospital lobby. Just before we went inside, I saw Conrad.

He was heading to a different area. When I tried to say hi, he walked right past us and headed toward the patient rooms.

It felt like we were strangers.

I had a strange feeling. I could tell I was getting further away from the Gildon family.

Lisa stayed with Brandon and me while we checked the test results. Everything looked fine. The fever I had was probably because of the stress and emotions I'd been feeling.

Lisa had to head back to work, so Brandon and I went to visit Ellie. She seemed down, probably because her surgery couldn't happen.

Instead of giving her advice, I talked about other things and mentioned a concert coming up. "Would you like to go?"

"Can I go?" Ellie asked, looking at Brandon.

Because of her heart condition, she had many restrictions on what she could do.

"Bran, I promise I won't get too excited," Ellie said, raising her hand like she was swearing an oath.

Brandon said, "Okay, Mae and I will go with you."

"Yay!" Ellie cheered, hugging me.

She was already so excited. I worried she might get too worked up at the concert. I started to think maybe I shouldn't have suggested it.

I looked at Brandon. He walked over and tapped Ellie on the head. "You're already this excited now. Imagine how you'll be on the day of the concert. Maybe you should..."

"I won't get excited, I promise," Ellie said again, raising her hand and shaking it.

I realized I made a mistake and decided not to bring it up again. Just then, my phone rang. It was Xander.

I answered quickly and listened to what Xander had to say. Then, I looked at Brandon.