“Of course you did.”
“Mrs. Patterson called Lucas. Lucas called me.” He shrugs. “You know how it works.”
I sit up, rubbing a hand over my face. “What do you want, Theo?”
“To check on you.” He says it simply. Like it’s obvious. “You called her Ms. Donovan in front of half the town.”
“So?”
“So that’s...” He searches for the word. “A lot.”
“It’s her name.”
“It’s a slap in the face and you know it.”
I don’t respond. He’s not wrong.
Theo sighs and pushes off the doorframe, crossing to sit on the end of my bed. I shift my feet to make room. Old habit.
“You can’t avoid her forever,” he says.
“Watch me.”
“Nate.”
“What?” I look at him. “What do you want me to do? Forgive her? Pretend it didn’t happen? Act like she didn’t ghost us for ten years?”
“No. I don’t know.” He runs a hand through his already-messy hair. “I just... I saw her today too.”
I go still. “Where?”
“Hardware store. She was buying salt for Eileen’s walkway.” He stares at his hands. “She smiled at me. That same smile, youknow? And I just... I panicked. Hid behind a display of paint cans until she left.”
Salt. For the walkway I already cleared.
Despite everything, I snort. “Paint cans?”
“It was the closest aisle.” He grins, sheepish. “Not my proudest moment.”
“You’re ridiculous.”
“I’m coping.” He stretches out his legs, getting comfortable like he’s planning to stay a while. “At least I didn’t call her Ms. Donovan.”
“At least I didn’t hide behind paint cans like a coward.”
He throws a pillow at my head. I catch it.
For a moment, it almost feels normal. Just two idiots giving each other shit at three in the morning, like we’ve done a hundred times before.
Then Theo’s smile fades.
“What are we going to do?” he asks. “She’s staying at Eileen’s. We can’t avoid Eileen. We can’t avoid town. We can’t avoid...” He gestures vaguely. “Everything.”
“We keep doing what we’re doing. She’ll leave eventually. She always leaves.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I know her.”
