Rex is leading me across his backyard by the hand. When the lawn ends and the forest begins, he doesn’t pause. But it’s dark. And who knows what’s in there.

I stop. “Umm, where are we going?” I ask, and fold my arms across my chest like it’s cold, even though it’s pretty warm.

“Come on. You’ll see. Trust me.”

I don’t move. I feel like I’m the star of a scary movie and the audience is screaming, Girl, don’t do it.

“I come back here all the time. You’ll love it,” he promises.

The audience is still screaming, Don’t listen to him, girl. Not unless you want to die! And to their point, what good can come out of walking into a dark forest at night?

Rex reaches into his backpack, takes out a big flashlight, and shines it into the woods. “See, just trees.” He lights the ground. “And dead leaves and shrubs and fungus. No boogeyman.”

“What about snakes and raccoons and whatever else lives in there.”

“We’ll be fine,” Rex says, and shines the light at our feet.

In protest, I take a deep breath and let it out slow and loud. But when he grabs my hand, I start walking again.

After a few minutes, we reach a clearing with a wooden picnic table. “You brought this out here?” I ask.

“Yeah, it used to be in the backyard at my old house,” he says, and takes out a long, red lighter, like Daddy uses to light the barbeque pit. He hands me the flashlight and lights two tin citronella candles sitting on the benches, one on each side of the table. Then he takes a blanket out of his backpack and arranges it on top of the picnic table.

“This is actually pretty cool,” I say, admiring the setup.

“You better listen to your boy,” Rex says, smiling, and climbs up on the table.

I climb up, too.

And now we’re lying on top of the table with our pinky fingers linked, looking up at the crowns of tall pines reaching for a patch of star-sprinkled sky.

REX

This has always been my secret spot. Even at my old house, when there was just a tiny backyard with two cedar elm trees. This table, the trees, the stars, this stillness—they’ve always been there for me. And now Carli is here, and it’s like I’ve introduced her to my best friends and they’re vibin’. And it’s making me feel closer to her than I’ve ever felt. Like even if we were butt-naked having sex, I doubt I’d feel closer.

“Crazy that there are more trees on Earth than stars in the Milky Way, isn’t it?” Carli says, her voice soft beside me.