Brandon stood a few paces away.
Caught.
He looked as surprised to see her as she was to see him, his hand still holding back a low-hanging branch, frozen in the middle of what was probably an attempt to sneak back the way he'd come. His brown hair was a little longer than she remembered, his shirt rumpled, his expression unreadable.
"Brandon?" she asked, her voice tight.
He opened his mouth, then shut it. Awkward silence pulsed between them before he cleared his throat and gave a crooked, half-hearted smile. "Hey."
She stared at him. "What are you doing here?"
He hesitated, then took a few slow steps closer, hands slipping into the pockets of his jeans. "I wasn't… I mean, I wasn't following you, if that's what you're thinking."
"I didn't say you were," she said cautiously.
"But you were thinking it."
She sighed, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "That doesn't answer my question."
