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There was so much… more to it than just what met the eye. I squeezed her hand. “I’m sorry about your sister.”

She shook her head again, quiet, eyes closed. “These things happen.”

“How old were you?”

“I was…” She screwed up her face. “I was seventeen.”

“That has to be a horrible age to lose someone at.”

She scoffed. “Like there’s a good age?”

“I mean, no, but… I feel like you’re really caught between a rock and a hard place then. Old enough to feel responsible for things and young enough to be, you know, a fragile little messlike kids always are. That’s awful.” I looked down. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

“It’s my fault,” she breathed—the words just slipping out, like she didn’t mean to say it. I paused, looking over at her, but she turned, sliding up to her feet.

“Harper—”

“Can we not talk about this? I need some air.”

She moved for the door, and I didn’t think—I never did—I just moved, lunging and grabbing her by the hand.

“There’s something else I wanted to ask,” I said. She looked back with a pained expression.

“What…?”

“Um… the picture frame,” I said. “Did you keep it?”

“Oh.” She relaxed, turning back to the window. “Yeah. I, uh… thank you. For the gift. I keep it on my desk.”

That was all I’d ever needed to hear. Suddenly I was happy and healthy and I could run and jump and dance around.

Dammit, Emberlynn was right. I hated when she was.

“What did you end up using?” I said. “For the photo.”

She smiled lightly at me. “None of them. I just put a cat picture in it.”

“I’m gonna start screaming until you tell me the real answer.”

She laughed, looking away again, a little… a little blush creeping over her cheeks. I’d missed that so much it was unreal. “None of the ones you took.”

“What, seriously? After I worked so hard on them?”

“Remember when we grabbed burgers from Jeremy’s and just sat on the overlook near the Rove estate?”

I slumped. It was a beautiful vista of Bayview from there, but I’d kind of been… hoping it was a picture of us. I know it didn’t make sense to hope for that when she’d been trying to forget me, but I’d thought maybe if she was wearing thenecklace… “Nah. Wiped that from my memory when I found out Jeremy’d skimped on my pickles.”

“Well, imagine that happening. Took a picture there.”

It was probably gorgeous. I was just jealous of a Bayview scenery shot. I settled back in the bed. “Can we go out for dinner somewhere today?”

She gave me a look. “What, starting a new bucket list?”

I sure was. I went with a clever excuse, being the Machiavellian master manipulator I was. “I just think I’d be more up to eating a proper meal if it was a whole thing, you know? Go out, order food, make it an experience.”

She hesitated, looking me over. “Will you be… okay to go out?”

I beamed. “You’ll catch me if I fall.”