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“No, really. Now that I’ve said it, I’m serious. I’ve been

thinking all month. All. Month. Sure we can try to make this

work. We can do the distance thing. We can talk to each other

every day and we can visit each other for a week here and a

week there, but what difference does it make? I’m never going

to move there and she’s never going to move here. It’s like

we’ll always be caught in limbo in two different places.”

“You don’t know that she’d never move here,” Danica

said. She brushed her hand over Quinn’s arm. “Come on. It’s

only been a month. I know that it’s hard, but-”

“It’s not that it’s hard. It’s that it’s pointless.”

Danica’s hand tightened on Quinn’s shoulder. “You seem

like you’ve already made up your mind that nothing will

change.”

A huge group of teenage kids brushed past them, all toting

suitcases or shouldering duffel bags. They chatted and laughed

happily, even at the early hour. Quinn wished she could feel

their excitement. That she had a big smile on her own face.

That she still had the hope that she’d started the month with.

“I have. Because it’s true. Her family is there. She has a

great job. They have good jobs. They’re settled. She’s never

going to be able to leave her parents because they’re her only

family and she loves them too much. I think she’d be

miserable being that far away from them.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Plus, Tampa is probably way nicer than here.”

Danica lifted her hand. She studied Quinn in the same way

that their mom often did when she was trying to figure out

what the heck had gone through their heads when they’d just

done something really dumb.