Page 47

Hannah nodded. “Then all that’s left to decide is which one of you has to move.”

For the first time in her life, Leslie knew what humans meant when they said they’d lost their balance. The room seemed to tilt, though it quickly righted itself. She was staring at Hannah, open-mouthed like a cartoon.

“What?” Hannah shrugged. “Plenty of people live in more than one place during their lives, Leslie. Different towns, different states, different countries even. And wait until you visit Ryker next weekend. You might fall in love with his home.”

She hoped shewouldfall in love with it. But… She shook her head. “I love Harmony Ridge.”

“It’s a normal life experience to love more than one place. To hold past homes in your heart.”

No.She wanted to scream it. Her heart gave a hard, painful beat. When she opened her mouth, she didn’t shout all the denials she felt. Instead her voice was quiet. “I don’t know if I can do that.”

Hannah reached out and set one warm hand on her shoulder, then withdrew it. “You might surprise yourself. I know a lot of people who moved someplace new and found an awesome adventure waiting for them.”

Her nod felt wooden. Her chest felt numb. Slowly she nodded.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Leslie said. “I… For some reason I hadn’t even considered one of us moving, but now it’s obvious.” She couldn’t talk about it anymore, not tonight anyway. She tried to smile and hoped she didn’t grimace instead. “I know I’m being weird right now. It feels really big. I have to think about it.”

“Sure. And we don’t have to keep talking about it. Just let me know if you want to process out loud or troubleshoot or whatever.”

“I will. Thanks.”

They enjoyed second slices of cake, a few episodes of their favorite reality show, and lots of good conversation that never returned to the subject of moving. By the time Leslie drove home, her earlier shock seemed like an overreaction. Until she walked in her door, saw her fridge, and remembered its contents—including an ornate box of chocolate-dipped strawberriesRyker had surprised her with this week. When they arrived on her doorstep, she had flooded his phone with chocolate and strawberry emojis before typing coherent words.

Oh my gosh thank you, but what’s the occasion?

Ryker:You are the occasion.

And you are the best boyfriend. I already tasted one btw. The white chocolate is something special.

Ryker:It looked like the shop is about half an hour from you? Have you been there before?

YES. Divinely Sweet. Never tried these though. Ahhhh thank you.

Ryker:It was an impulse gift, honestly. I miss you today.

How’s your new and extremely complicated case coming along?

Ryker:Occupying all my brain space.

Chocolate-dipped strawberries being the exception?

Ryker:YOU being the exception.

She was falling in love at a terrifying speed. And he lived in another state.

She could move, couldn’t she? For Ryker she could do anything. Couldn’t she?

Leslie wandered to her art room and stood before her recently finished beach scene. Among the few carefully placed people were a tiny couple climbing the dune hand in hand. They didn’t look like her and Ryker. She never inserted her own physical image into her works. But they represented a couple who climbed dunes and maybe foothills together, and Leslie’s private head-canon for the little figures was that they had connected years after a matchmaking test claimed they were perfect for one another.

She wandered the room until she stood in front of her waterfall and the mountain from which it sprang. She ran her thumb over the peaks. She closed her eyes and knew where she needed to be.

In minutes, she was there, having run from her neighborhood to the outskirts of town at full speed. She avoided Lunar Lane, headed straight up into the foothills. She traveled in broad leaps and bounds, up and up and up until she reached a flat ledge that looked back down on her town. Her home. Shadowed with only a few streetlights. Residential neighborhoods lit dimly from the other side of windows.

“I love you,” she whispered to her hometown.

Out here under the night sky, everything was clear in a moment. She knew herself. She knew Ryker. And she had to talk to him. Now. Right now. She had to tell him why their relationship had to end.