“By the time I got back from France she was dating a guy she met this summer,” she continued. “She brought him with her to Mad Martha’s. It was supposed to be just the two of us—we were supposed to talk about it. But she brought him without telling me he was coming, and I—I hate him.”

Tasha had always been the nice one among the three of us, the one who wouldn’t say a mean thing about anyone, but now she spit out the words with a vehemence that shocked me.

She seemed to suddenly realize she was talking to me, and she looked at me in a panic. “Are you freaked out?”

“No, absolutely not,” I said quickly. “I’m sorry. I feel like I should have known. You two were so close back in the spring. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I wanted to but Haley didn’t, and I kept hoping she’d come around and we could tell you together.”

I remembered now that neither of them had had prom dates. They’d told me they were going stag because of the Jacob situation and wanted to support me. I asked, “Did you two go to prom together?”

Tasha winced. “Well, not exactly. We went to prom alone, together.”

“I can’t believe I never got it,” I said. “You must have thought I was so stupid.”

“No, I didn’t,” Tasha insisted. “I mean, it’s not like you’d think it was an option, right?”

The question almost made me laugh. “No, I guess not.”

“Are you sure you’re okay with this?” Tasha asked tentatively. “You’re not—you don’t think it’s weird?”

“It’s not weird,” I said. I put my arm around her again, and she dropped her head onto my shoulder. I knew this was a chance for me to tell her about Steph, to make her feel less alone, but the words stuck in my throat. I told myself I didn’t want to trample on her news, that I was being unselfish by letting her have this space.

Chapter 34

I woke up just after sunrise on Friday morning. Tasha had stayed up late reading again, and I left her fast asleep in bed. Outside, the trees seemed to float in the misty dawn light as I walked from the house to the studio.