He was always calm and collected. Always looked like he was the one on the top of the world.

"Nicky, that's never going to work."

"What?" she asked.

"You can't keep people out forever. It's okay to need people, but that means you have to let them in at some point."

Maybe he was right. Nicky thought back to that night with Ken, when they'd confided in each other. It was weird for her to do that, especially with someone she barely knew, but at the same time, learning Ken's story had made her feel... understood.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to have a friend to talk to, outside of work, every now and then.

"Thanks, Dr. Graham," Nicky said. "I'll think about it."

As she walked out of his office, she couldn't help but think back to her father.

He'd always been the stereotypical angry drunk, and it was frustrating, because Nicky had always tried to save him. She'd tried to make him better. But he was never a good man. He treated her mother poorly, and after Rosie was gone, hed treated Nicky like shit too.

Nickys family was broken, maybe even before Rosie went missing. But Nicky owed it to Rosie to remember her as the person she'd always been: a good person.

Whenever Nicky thought of Rosie, she thought of that time at the lake house.

But they had memories before that, too.

Memories from when they were normal sisters.

When they were little--Nicky was nine and Rosie was eight--their father still had a shred of kindness in him.

He got Rosie a puppy for her birthday.

The puppy was a standard poodle. It had lots of white fur and a floppy, curly tail. It was always a little nervous, an anxious little thing. But Rosie had always been anxious too.

Nicky remembered playing with the dog with Rosie in the living room of their old home. How happy Rosie had been.

There were other happy memories too.

When Nicky was ten and Rosie was nine, they'd gotten matching pigtails.

They'd both been so excited. They'd gotten new dresses, shoes, and handbags. Then they had gone to the nail salon to get their nails painted.

They'd had so much fun that day.

Nicky remembered this all as clearly as if it had just happened yesterday. She remembered the way the little pigtails looked on her little sister.

She remembered the way Rosie was always happy.

Another time, they had decided to start up a lemonade stand. They got a stand and some old, beat-up folding tables, and they set up in the front yard.

They set the tables out in the sun, facing the road.

It was summer, so the sun hit them straight-on, and the heat from the flowers on the fence warmed the table legs.

They set up their stuff and Rosie made them some lemonade. They sold it to the neighbors and made a lot of money.