“Oh, and one more thing. Um, this might make you not so okay with me, but I’m going to say it anyway because you taught me some things,” Chase said, taking a big breath. “But I think you need me to teach you some things.”

Olivia cocked her head again. “What?”

“There’s this Garth Brooks song—yes, I know who Garth Brooks is, thank you very much. Anyway, it’s about standing outside the fire and how that’s, like, super safe. I mean, I know I have been standing inside the fire, burning like a fool for way too long. But you’re not even close enough to be warm, Olivia.”

Neve’s mouth formed a little O of alarm. “Maybe I better step—”

“You don’t have to,” Olivia said.

“What I’m saying is that you won’t let anyone inside because you don’t want to get hurt. Your family hurt you, maybe Conrad, I don’t know, but you live so cautiously that it’s hardly living sometimes. That morning when you came down after partaking of the Hammer, you looked happy.”

“Well, she’d had a lot of orgasms,” Neve said.

Olivia jabbed her with her elbow.

“Ouch,” Neve said, shoving her sister’s arm. “Hey, I have ears. I heard everything that night.”

Olivia colored, but still she didn’t speak. Her expression remained an enigma.

“Spencer’s a good guy, and he likes you. That’s pretty great,” Chase said.

“I never said he wasn’t a good guy. I just don’t know him. I did that without thinking and—”

“And maybe that’s what you need more of in your life. You can’t always live in a bubble. Life is messy. For me, it was too messy, and the lack of boundaries in my life kept me from moving in any direction. But you have too many boundaries, and you’re stuck. You can’t plan things like falling in love. I know. I fell in love with a bearded giant in the forest. On the surface, he’s all kinds of wrong for me, but deep down he’s my perfect soul mate.”

“Soul mate?” Olivia repeated, her expression clouding. “I thought Conrad was my soul mate. Things with him were always so complicated, but I believed that we truly belonged together. I pined for him, knowing that our past prevented any kind of future. But then he showed up with you, saying things about missing me, how he wanted to try again, and I—I—”

“Had moved on? Like me?” Chase said softly.

Olivia seemed to think about those words; then slowly she began to nod. “Yeah, I think I did.”

Neve leaned over and kissed her sister on top of the head. “Look at you. Just growing up before my very eyes.”

Chase started laughing, and eventually Olivia joined in, looking at her sister. “Who are you?”