Dustin nodded in agreement, while he remembered how foolish he had been with his silly youthful goal to walk into prom with a girl from the Hot List, as if something so frivolous would have meant anything in the grand scheme of his life. He’d been a boy then, with stupid notions about life and love, and though only five months had passed since, his entire outlook on the world was radically different. He was a new man, who understood what was truly important. It wasn’t about winning some girl’s affections, it was about finding someone who gets you and who you get right back. It wasn’t about lamenting your losses, it was about celebrating the lives of those you lost by living your own life well.

“So you’re leaving tomorrow?” Dustin asked, motioning to Anna’s suitcase.

“Yes, we’re going to Italy for the memorial service,” Anna said softly. “His mother wasn’t going to let me come, but she changed her mind after she found a lot of sketches of me and a few poems he had written in Alexia’s room. She decided Alexia would want me to be there, so she stopped by and invited me herself. We had a good cry together when she gave me copies of his poems.” Anna trailed off and looked down at her hands, hands that would never touch her beloved’s golden curls again. “Though I won’t say good-bye, because I can’t. I’ll love him forever.” Anna was crying again, but she knew Dustin wouldn’t mind, as she had sat by his side while he wept many times over the loss of Nicholas.

Dustin stared at Anna, his heart twisting in his chest for her. He couldn’t even begin to imagine what she’d witnessed, though Steven told him Anna kept repeating she wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere else.

“At least I got to tell him I loved him before … before … I just wish I had told him sooner. I wish I had told him every day.”

“The important thing,” Dustin offered, “was that he knew.”

“It was my fault, Dustin,” Anna whispered. “I haven’t said this to anyone, but I’m going to tell you. It was me who insisted on saving that damn dog. He did it for me. If we had left him behind, then Alexia would still be alive.”

“You can’t think that way,” Dustin said, sitting down next to her. “It was a terrible accident. That Johnson guy had him, but he couldn’t pull him up in time. It’s not your fault. How could you have known? You were down there yourself trying to save the dog. It’s not like you asked him to do it while you stood by and watched.”

“But he died saving my life.”