And she took a right on the Road to Somewhere.

And headed home.

And the sound of the Sierra melted away into the silence.

And Phil felt the lightness fill his insides again. And it made him feel brighter.

Which was confusing, because he felt so sad.

But the lightness felt good. It made him feel unburdened. And hopeful, somehow.

He looked up at the sky.

And the northern lights were gone.

But he saw a shooting star.

His first instinct was to point it out to Marci.

But she wasn’t there.

9

As Ginette passed Echo Lake, she wished that she had never taken Pete to the observatory at Skyview Park to see if they might see the northern lights.

Because the only thing there was to do at the observatory was sit. And look at the sky. And she wished she and Pete had gone and done something. Like—gone dancing. Or gone skating at Echo Lake.

They could have seen the northern lights just fine while they were out on the ice. And if they appeared, great. And if not, they would have at least been doing something fun.

And Ginette could have let whatever was happening between them just be what it was—and become what it was, in its own time, instead of trying to name what it was.

She cursed herself for forcing the issue with Pete.

And then she dreamed on how going skating with Pete would have played out.

They probably would have had to shovel a space to skate on, and Pete would have grumbled a little about how much work it would have been. Because he was a little lazy.

And then Ginette would have had to hold Pete’s hand to make sure he didn’t fall. Because he was a lousy skater.

And she would have felt so close to him while she held his hand.

And he would have felt so close to her.

And they probably would have felt exactly like they had felt when they were sitting on the bench at the observatory.

And then she thought that maybe she should go back to the observatory and just sit back down next to Pete on the bench and take his hand in hers and not talk about what had just happened.

And they could just be close again.

And they could start over.

And she almost turned and ran back to him—when she realized that she was home.

And decided that home was actually just what she needed.

And she crossed the Road to Nowhere and made her way into Spruce View Estates on Spruce View Lane.

Hers was the first mobile home on the right.

She headed up her driveway and remembered that her mom was at work, so she’d have the house to herself. So she could have a snack and watch something dumb on TV and fall asleep on the couch.

And maybe she’d see Pete tomorrow and try to pick up where they were before they had gone to Skyview Park—when they were holding hands in front of Pete’s parents—before Ginette had tried to name what they were.