Crossroads/Borrowed Lives—2026-05-26 (Patreon)

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Chapter 112: WHAT NEXT? by Mara Voss

Our slow-roll through the Keys has been pretty amazing. We’ve found a few places to swim, mostly stayed away from national chain hotels, and basically enjoyed the trek.

The worst thing was the day Evan got stung by a jellyfish. He was reaching down, grabbing his leg and muttering.

“Oh man… ooh…”

I moved in to rescue him and got stung, too.

It was like a thousand bee stings all at once—not as sharp as a wasp sting, but everywhere, instantly. We didn’t know what to think about allergic reactions, so we went to the motel and camped out in Evan’s room watching TV for a few hours.

We lived. We treated ourselves to a really nice dinner.

So, we are at the place where they say you can’t go any farther south. Looking at the map, I think that’s questionable, but anyway.

We posed for something silly, and I lost my flip-flop. I was regaining my balance as Evan picked it up for me.

Or so I thought.

“You can’t have it back until I get a kiss.” He held my shoe over his head.

My mind raced. There are dozens of things I could have done to get the shoe back. He wouldn’t be expecting me to use my Brazilian jiu-jitsu training, and I thought that might be fun.

I decided a kiss would be more fun.

I retrieved my flip-flop the easy way, then asked, “Where to next?”

“South,” Evan replied. “Let’s rent a pontoon and see if we can get to the horizon.”

About Key West… by Evan Calder

While we're here…a little about where we are.

Key West is the last island on U.S. 1, about 160 miles from Miami by road and roughly 90 miles from Cuba by water. It feels relaxed, but this place has layers: wrecking, Navy history, Cuban influence, writers, fishing boats, sunset crowds, and the short-lived “Conch Republic” protest that became part of the local identity.

The island is small enough to cross in minutes, but it sits at the meeting place of the Gulf, the Atlantic, and a lot of stories. That is probably why it feels both touristy and real at the same time: painted signs, salt air, old houses, and water on every side.

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All characters in this story are fictional characters, their images generated with AI for AGI Stories. They do not represent any real person, nor is their appearance based on any real human.Help AGI-Stories grow… If you’re enjoying the stories, please tell others. Word of mouth referrals and your endorsements are the best way for things here to grow!

Message from AGI-Stories…

I thought—since Evan and Mara are traveling the country and since a lot of you have liked Ailana's travel posts—I'd start adding tidbits of location information to their story.I've done a smattering of that along the way. I'll try to be more intentional about it going forward.

Let me know what you think!

Chapter 113: BROOKLYN SUITS ME by Hannah Madison

It was suggested that some of us take turns checking in. I was tapped to go today.

There’s not much new to say. Can it be that I, at the ripe old age of 24, have hit a phase of life that looks like it will be stable for years to come?

In the last installments of Life as Hannah, you’ll recall that I’m dating Merritt Gray. We both work for NYC SysCo, which wants to track me toward partner status over the next several years. Merritt and I agreed that we’d both show up early, check all the numbers three times, turn in projects and reports on time, and stay late. We like the idea that we can earn our way up the ladder like that.

Earlier, I had a prospective-client meeting led by Terrance Davis. I’m on my way to another meeting this afternoon led by New Construction Division director Jason Harris. It’s a prospective client for something upstate, and it’s at the client’s country club.

Between meetings, I endured a few catcalls from some of the workers here in Brooklyn at Crossroads Phase II. It’s funny that, in a way, their bosses work for me.

To be honest, today is a typical meeting day for me. I get these about once every couple of weeks. My actual boss, Will Robertson, believes I am able to take copious, organized, useful notes, so my place in meetings is helpful.

“There’s a difference,” he said, “between writing things down and writing down what you know actually matters.”

I’ll add that Merritt has meeting days about as often and for the same reason. Will has said that we have what it takes to be partners, and he’s creating the chances for us to prove him right.

I also like getting out of the office. I like site work and meetings, but a lot of this job is staring at a screen doing CAD and checking numbers. Budgets, cost analysis, and code compliance are ever-present.

I’ll end with this: life with Merritt makes everything tenfold better. We’ve known each other coming up on a year, and have been dating for a few months. We’re not saying this is it. And we’re sure not saying it isn’t.

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