“I was just thinking about it all,” he says. “About how wild it is, you know—after all these years. What it must have felt like for Lorna, to have Abigail just turn up like that, out of the blue.”

“Yeah,” I say.

“Would you have wanted that, do you think?” he says. “If you had been Lorna, I mean. Would you have wanted to meet Abigail?”

“I…I don’t know,” I say. I hadn’t thought about it that much. “I think so.” But I can also appreciate how risky this has been for both my sister and Lorna. Seeing what can’t be un-seen; knowing what can’t be un-known.

Oliver nods, but distantly. He’s drifted away from me again just now. I think again about how unlike him this was—the impulse trip to Miami, this why-the-hell-not attitude. Despite myself I feel a nervous quiver, and quickly push away any thoughts of strange messages on his laptop. He came here for me, I remind myself sternly. For us.

He sits, abruptly, on the side of the bed, and pats the space beside him.

“Sit down, will you, Gill?”

I suppress the little flicker of nerves, and sit beside him. Side by side like this, knees touching, on this unfamiliar bed in this unfamiliar room, it’s like we’re two teenagers.

“I’ve been thinking,” he says. “I wanted you to know. I think we should do it. The fertility clinic. The IVF thing. I’m sorry I’ve been dragging my feet. When we go back…we should do it.”

I stare at him, half-waiting for him to take back the words, but he doesn’t. This is it? I could cry with relief. This is what he’s been looking nervous about?

“Really?” I say.

“Yes. Really. I’ve just been…my head hasn’t been in the right place. But if this is what we need, then…” He shrugs, his eyes steady on mine. “It’s what we need.”

I feel goosebumps spread along my arms—prickles of relief and disbelief, feelings I didn’t even know I’d been storing, leaving my body like a giant exhale.

“Thank you, Oliver,” I say.

He smiles.

“I had this kind of crazy idea, Gillian,” he says. “I know the others will be going home tomorrow…but we don’t have to. What if we stayed? You don’t have to be in school for another three days.” He smiles at me. “What do you think? Cocktails on Ocean Drive?”

I have to laugh—his enthusiasm’s infectious, and it’s so long since I’ve seen him like this.

“Well…it is kind of a crazy idea,” I say. “But…why not?” A new chapter, I think. This is a good place to begin it.

“Maybe tomorrow we can go to the beach,” he says. “It’s a long time since I’ve seen you in a bikini.”