“We’ll need to take this in turns then,” I say. “Get some sleep in shifts. Ryan, why don’t you sleep first since you steered us through Niagara Falls and all?”

I’m expecting to see his cocky smile at my quip but he just looks at me with pained, haunted eyes. It occurs to me that the last twenty-four hours have probably been the most traumatic in his life. He’s become a shell of himself. But he nods, accepting my urging.

“Just twenty minutes,” he says. “Then wake me up.”

I agree, though I have no intention of waking him for at least two hours. Zeke decides he’ll take the first sleeping shift as well. Then I turn to Molly.

“Do you want to sleep on the first shift too?” I ask.

She looks from me to Ben with a curious look in her eye. I can tell she doesn’t think it’s a great idea for me and Ben to be left alone together, and I wonder if it’s because she doesn’t yet trust him or because she is suspicious of there being something between us and feels loyalty to Ryan. Whatever it is, she finally agrees to sleep.

Everyone apart from Ben and me curls up on the floor of the boat, leaving the two of us to set the sails and steer out into the expanse of water.

We head southwest, keeping the banks in our sight line at all times.

I look over at Ben. He looks stunning in the dawn light.

“I’m glad you’re here,” I tell him, speaking quietly so as not to wake anyone up. “I missed you.”

“We were only apart for a few hours,” he replies.

“That’s not what I mean.”

He looks down, embarrassed, as it dawns on him that I’m referring to our time in Fort Noix, and the way he cut me out of his life.

“Where did you go?” I ask him. “Why didn’t you speak to me for six months?”

He can hardly meet my eye. “I didn’t want you to know how weak I’d become.”

I frown. “And why would that matter to me? You’re my friend, Ben, I care for you no matter what.”

“That’s just it,” he replies. “I’m your friend. Your weak, sensitive friend. Rather than the sort of strong, confident guy who could one day become more than your friend.” His eyes skim over Ryan’s sleeping form.

“Are you telling me you ignored me for six months because you’re jealous of Ryan?” I’m almost too angry to speak.

“It’s not just Ryan,” Ben says. “It’s Logan too. The second we reached Fort Noix you never spoke of him again. Never even said his name. You were in love with him, weren’t you?” His eyes burn into me.

“I don’t know,” I say, squirming.