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There was so much to think about, and none of it went together.

She was excited about Taste the Love. She was worried about Mega Eats.

She was lusting after Sullivan. She felt terrible about what she would have to do to Sullivan’s precious Bois, but she was definitely going to do it, because Taste the Love was her dream.

But wasn’t part of the dream about Lillian and Izzy coming back to Portland, and all of them going out to brunch together and throwing prom parties in the winter when everyone needed an excuse to dress up?

But Lillian hadn’t said they were coming back, not anytime soon.

Was Kia putting her life savings and her investors’ money (not to mention risking Mega Eats’ wrath and Sullivan’s) for a dream of home that you couldn’t buy? She stared at the waterfall.

“You okay?” Sullivan set down her backpack.

Kia sat down on a rock. “I shouldn’t complain to you.”

Sullivan shrugged. “We didn’t make any house rules about complaining.”

“We’re going to court tomorrow, and it’s just… a lot.” The waterfall hid the tremor in Kia’s voice.

Sullivan waited. Kia wanted to sink against Sullivan’s strong, REI-clad chest and pour out her worries, but you couldn’t ask to be comforted by the person whose life you were ruining.

“I’m fine,” Kia said.

Sullivan took her jacket off and handed it to Kia. “You look cold.”

The warmth of the jacket felt impossibly intimate.

“Sandwich?” Sullivan opened her pack.

Suddenly, Kia was starving.

“Roasted vegetables with Gruyère, or pulled pork with caramelized onions?” Sullivan asked.

“Which are you more proud of?”

Sullivan considered and handed her the roasted vegetables. “Notice how the miso glaze melds with the sear on the rocotillo peppers.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Kia took a bite. She had visited restaurants in thirty-eight states and she hadn’t had a sandwich this good. “Fuck you, Sullivan,” she said through a mouthful.

Sullivan’s smile said she knew it was a compliment.

Above them, the clouds were parting.

“Here it comes,” Sullivan said, gesturing to the sky.

And like magic or something out of a religious painting, a ray of light shone into the pool, illuminating every droplet of water in the air. Kia’s mouth opened in an O of wonder.

She was just about to say how much she appreciated Sullivan taking her out even though she’d almost drowned in the wetland, when a giant, poisonous viper slithered out of the underbrush. It moved in for the attack. Kia screamed.

Sullivan stood up and moved toward the monster.

“Shoo,” she said. “Kia doesn’t want to know you.”

Kia considered wading into the water to escape. Could this kind of snake swim? Her skin crawled at the thought.

“It’s just a garter snake. They’re harmless,” Sullivan said.

The snake disappeared back into the bushes. Now that it was gone, Kia could admit that maybe it wasn’t that big. Maybe it was more like shoelace big. Short shoelace. It was still hideous.

“Why are you so afraid of snakes?” When Sullivan sat back down, she was closer to Kia, their hips touching. She hadn’t moved closer on purpose, had she?

“It’s the way they move.” Kia waved her arm to imitate the unnatural slither.

“The way they just appear. And everyone says, Oh, there’re no snakes at the fairgrounds.

There’re no snakes in Cincinnati. And then, bam, there’s one under my RV.

That’s why I want the Wind Searcher Pop-Up Pavilion.

And don’t make fun of me. Everyone’s scared of something. ” Kia trembled in Sullivan’s coat.

Sullivan looked at her, confused but sympathetic.

“I wouldn’t make fun of you.” She touched Kia’s knee, just a fleeting gesture but Kia felt it vibrate through her body. “Even though you put marshmallows in your coffee.”

“You already made fun of me for the marshmallows.” Kia pretended to scowl.

“Shit. I forgot. Sorry. I won’t make fun of your snake thing.”

Sullivan’s calm dispelled Kia’s nerves.

“You know I grew up on a yacht, right?”

“I did not know you grew up on a yacht.”

“I did, and my dad and I sailed all over the world. He’s got money.

Smart tech investments. He always said nature wants you to look at it, not touch it.

No snorkeling off the boat. No swimming with the dolphins.

We went to gorgeous places, but sometimes we were far off the grid.

He knew it’d be fun to swim off the yacht in the middle of the ocean, but if your eight-year-old kid gets stung by a jellyfish or hits her head as she’s jumping off the boat, nobody can get there in time. ”

Sullivan looked like she was impressed by Kia’s adventuresome childhood. It made Kia want to tell Sullivan more stories.

“Nature was like a fairy-tale house that’s made of candy.

You want to eat it, but it’ll kill you. And sea snakes.

” She gave a dramatic shudder to illustrate the horror.

“The Dubois’ snake. The spiny snake. The yellow-bellied sea snake just drifts around in the ocean its whole life waiting to eat human children. ”

“How big is it?”

“Like two feet!”

“How big are the children?” Sullivan’s smile said, I really am sorry this scares you, and also you’re funny, and I’m trying not to tease you .

“This is my phobia.” Kia gave Sullivan’s arm a little slap. The gesture felt natural. Exactly what you do when your friend teases you in a way that doesn’t hurt. “Small enough to eat.”

“I’m sorry,” Sullivan said more seriously. “Stuff like that can be terrifying when you’re a kid.”

“It was worth it to get that life. Sometimes the ocean was so blue. Sometimes we’d see dolphins.

Fish of every color. If we were married for real, I’d take you sailing.

” That sounded way too romantic. She pivoted.

“We always had spaniels. My dad got them life vests in their own tartans, and he taught them to poop in a composting sandbox.” She counted on her fingers as she listed off the names of her favorite dogs.

“What did you do on a yacht for all that time?”

“Read. Talked. FaceTimed my cousin when she wasn’t dancing. Wherever we landed, my dad got someone to teach me something. His friends are expat drag queens mostly. They taught me chess, Spanish architecture. And sometimes he’d get an old abuela to show me how to make tortillas.”

Kia could almost see the setting sun stretching shadows over a chess board.

“It was an anchorless life. I don’t know if I have a high school diploma. I took some tests for homeschooled kids. I might have failed.”

Sullivan shrugged and bumped her shoulder against Kia’s.

“My grades in high school sure wouldn’t have gotten me into Harvard, but look at us now. Total rock stars.”

Kia loved the way Sullivan lumped them together, like they were real friends. She was probably being kind because Kia was just a few minutes past a snake-induced panic attack, but still… it was nice.

“My dad said I knew everything I needed for a good life,” Kia went on. “My aunt got me some sort of international student’s high school equivalency paperwork so I could get into culinary arts school.”

“I wasn’t great at school, not the books and computers part,” Sullivan mused. “I love audiobooks, but reading on paper…” Sullivan winced as she crumbled the parchment sandwich wrapper into a ball. “Dyslexic.”

“I didn’t know.”

“Why did you think I memorized all my recipes instead of reading them on my phone?”

“Because you were brilliant?”

“Thanks. And my folks and brother are all professors. They didn’t put me down, but it was my grandpa who showed me there are a lot of different ways to be good at things.”

“Is it weird that we went to school together and we don’t know this stuff about each other?” Kia asked.

“It kind of is. I like knowing that you grew up on a yacht. Do you live in an RV because you’re used to living on a yacht?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you like it?”

“Moving around? Absolutely. I read Sappho off the island of Lesbos. Who doesn’t want that?”

Feeling her ass going numb from sitting on a rock, Kia shifted. The movement settled her hip firmly against Sullivan’s. She felt Sullivan’s warmth. She didn’t imagine it this time. Sullivan leaned into her.

“My cousin Lillian was my only friend, but that worked because I was always moving around and she was a ballerina. She didn’t have time for a social life, and I didn’t have a place for a social life.

We understood each other. It wasn’t weird that we were always in different time zones.

She’s in Paris now though. With her girlfriend.

I’m not jealous.” She was jealous. “I thought maybe they’d move back to Portland, and we’d all…

I don’t know. Live together. That’s dumb.

They’re so in love. They don’t want a third wheel, and I love living in a fifth wheel.

” Kia made the thumbs-up gesture she’d offer her fans, but she didn’t feel it in her heart. “So I guess when this is all done…”

“Will you move out of the house?”

Kia felt Sullivan’s hip shift uneasily.

“Of course,” Kia said quickly. “I’m going to move as soon as we get rid of this Mega Eats thing.”

“Oh.” Sullivan almost looked hurt. “So, like, you’ll leave tomorrow?” Did Sullivan want Kia to stay? Was she offended that Kia had spoken so quickly?

“I mean your house is beautiful. I’d love to stay forever.” She gestured to the waterfall. “But I’m used to being on the road.”

“It’d make sense to live closer to your food truck.

” Sullivan sounded like a business adviser, helpful and disinterested.

Sullivan tucked her balled-up sandwich wrapper into a pocket in her backpack.

With that, the clouds above them closed.

Sullivan handed Kia a napkin from her pack.

Kia couldn’t shake the feeling that she’d said the wrong thing, but she wasn’t sure if it was I’m going to move as soon as we get rid of this Mega Eats thing or I’d love to stay forever .