Page 42

I pulled out my cellphone and clicked on our text stream.

Kit:

I could bring lunch home today?

Dakota:

I have lunch plans already.

Kit:

With Dad?

Dakota:

Nope

Kit:

Something for New Horizons?

My phone lit up with a call from my sister. I answered.

“Hey, what’s up? This lunch thing is becoming quite the mystery,” I joked.

“I’m having lunch with Joey Whittaker.”

I went cold. “Come again? I had to have heard that wrong.”

“I saw him at the pet store when I picked up Pogo’s food on Saturday. He’d just gotten hired.”

My jaw clenched. “And he approached you? That’s not okay, Dakota. We can get a restraining order or⁠—”

“No. This is why I didn’t tell you before. You’re irrational about him.”

I blinked. “Irrational? Really?”

She sighed. “Okay, not irrational, but emotional. I know you’ve got your own feelings about what happened to me. I know. But it happened to me. Did it ever occur to you I might need closure?”

I deflated like a balloon. “I’m sorry. It’s just…you cried when you read the letter. I don’t want you ripping open all your wounds for him.”

“It’s not for him,” she said quietly. “It’s for me.”

“Okay, so I’ll go with you.”

“I don’t think that’s a great idea, Kit.”

No, it was a terrible idea. I didn’t want to see Joey again, not after the mess I’d made in his pool house. But I also didn’t want Dakota revisiting her trauma without backup. She might think talking to Joey would help, but what if it sent her crashing back into grief and depression?

“Please, Dakota. I’ll follow your lead,” I said. “Just let me be there in case you need anything.”

A long silence stretched out.

“Fine,” she said finally. “But you’ve got to behave yourself.”

“I will. I swear. This is your show. I’m just there for moral support.”

I just hoped I wasn’t the one spiraling after seeing Joey again.