“I look skeptical,” I said.
“You had good instincts. I was shady.”
I laughed, glad for the release. This felt heavy in a way I couldn’t explain. “Are there more?”
He turned another page, pointing to the bottom corner and a shot taken on a bumper car. The two of us were side by side, me behind the fake wheel while he had his arms up in the air, a gleeful look on his face. “Well, here we have evidence that you used to drive just fine.”
“Maybe that’s where I got traumatized,” I suggested.
“Entirely possible.” Another page turn. “I think we did better off four wheels. Look.”
I did, following his finger to a picture of him and me in the grassy stretch behind Mimi’s house, Calvander’s office in the distant background. I had to look more closely to make out that it was bubbles, tons of them, floating up over us as we stood together. I had one arm looped around his neck, my eyes cast downward while he looked straight ahead.
“Wow,” I said softly.
“I know.” He leaned in a little bit more: now our shoulders touched again. “I’ve always really liked this shot, for some reason. It just looks—”
“Magical,” I finished for him. As soon as I said the word, I felt silly. But that was what had come to mind.
“Yeah.” He turned his head, smiling at me, and I wished more than anything, right then, that I did remember. That day, that shot, those bubbles. But especially him.
“Anyway,” he said, “there are others, too. But those are the ones I remember. As well as that group shot, the one you already saw. Which is... here.”
He turned a few more pages until it appeared, this time blown up bigger: me, Roo, Jack, Bailey, and Trinity, all on the bench, side by side. The day I had arrived and seen it beneath the glass in Mimi’s office, every other face had been a stranger. Now, looking at them, I could see things I immediately recognized: the recognizable wry annoyance of Trinity’s expression, how Bailey looked so serious, sitting with elbows propped on knees, framing her own face with her fists. Jack, the oldest, already focused on what would come after the shutter clicked, while Roo’s grin was the same. I looked at myself last, thinking there would be no surprises there, at least. But this time, I did see something different. It was the way I was sitting, leaning against Roo, our knees bumping each other: the ease and comfortableness that comes with familiarity. It was, actually, much like we were sitting now.
“After that,” he said, “you just vanish, never to be seen again. Poof. You can see why I was confused.”
Like I was the ghost, I thought. “Did you think I was dead, too?”
“I was a kid, so it wasn’t that cut and dry. It was more...” He sat back again, thinking. “I wondered about you. But it had been a while. And then you show up, at the dock, and you’re Emma but really Saylor, and you don’t know me....”
“I’m sorry,” I said instantly.
“Not your fault.” He turned to look at me. “Look, the point is... I’m glad you came this summer. To see you again.”
I stared back at him, feeling a tug in my chest. “I’m real now,” I said.
“Yeah,” he said, smiling. We were so close, I could see him breathing. “You are.”
It was perfect, that kind of moment when time just stops. Until my phone, in my pocket, buzzed suddenly. When I pulled it out, I had a text from Bailey.
Where are you? Come find me. It’s important.
Of course it was.
“Everything okay?” Roo asked.
“Think so.” I shut the book. “I should go. Thanks for letting me look at this.”
“You can take it, if you want,” he offered.
“Really?”
“Sure,” he said with a smile. “I know where to find you.”
Lake North, I thought. The Tides. Sighing, I stood up, pressing the book to my chest. “Thank you. Really. You have no idea...” I trailed off, not sure how to put this. “It means a lot.”
“No problem.” He stood up. “You want a ride? I’ve got the Yum truck. I can play the music.”
