Donya’s wearing a proud smile. “That was beautiful, Siri. Thank you for sharing. We’re going to dig a little deeper into what you touched on. Jamie, let’s hear yours first, and then you can both go back to your cabins, ruminate on what we talked about, and tomorrow we’ll start connecting the threads.” She looks at me and nods encouragingly.

Siri’s gaze drifts to the closed notebook on my lap.

“Siri, I—”

“Jamie,” Donya interjects. “It’s okay. You don’t need to respond right now. Just read yours.”

I look back at Donya. “Um, I’m sorry, but I don’t want to read mine.”

Donya nods patiently. “I think Siri would really love to hear yours.”

I shake my head. “It’s too personal.”

Siri blinks at me in disbelief. “Are you intercoursing kidding? Read yours, Jamie.”

I shift to face her head on and widen my eyes, “I’m sorry. Did you just use ‘intercoursing’ as a stand-in for the f-word?”

“I don’t use vulgar language. Read your essay.”

“So you replaced fucking with the technical term?” I snicker.

Siri’s seething. Her face looks like a tomato.

“If you won’t read it,” she spits, “I will.”

Siri snatches the journal off my lap.

“Oh my god!” The words fly out of me in a pitch yet unknown to humankind. I grab hold of the other side of it and yank back. “Siri!”

Siri holds strong.

“Girls.” Donya tries to catch our attention, but we’ve locked in on each other and there’s nothing she can do that’s going to make me let go of this book. I pull with all I have, bracing my foot in the crease between the couch cushions.

“Siri, this is my writing, it’s my decision!”

She tugs it farther in her direction. “You have to finish the exercise!” she screams.

My heart is in my throat. “Dude, what the fuck, let it go!”

Siri suddenly slinks sideways off the couch into a standing position, yanking with an impressive amount of force that annihilates my grip on the edge of the journal. Just like that, she’s glided across the room with it.

“SIRI!”

“GIRLS!” Donya’s eyes are wide from her spot on the sofa. Siri freezes with the notebook held aloft. She’s breathing heavily. Tears are still streaming down her cheeks.

I’m full-on standing on the damn couch. “Siri, if you really want to get to know each other, you won’t open that notebook.”

Siri’s voice scrapes up her tear-laden throat. “If you wanted to work through this and be sisters, you would read it to me. That’s a fact. You would read it, Jamie! The universe went through the trouble of bringing us back together, and you still don’t want to talk to me?!”