“Oh, don’t you worry, Grady Tripp. I’m bringing the world to them, with Wren’s continued help, of course.”

“I don’t doubt it, darling.” There’s that word again.

Our chuckling dies into a soft silence that has me thinking, probably too much.

“It’s good to laugh,” she says with a breath.

“If you’re not laughing…” I say, letting my voice trail off like she did at the hospital when she said the same thing. A beat later, I ask, “Never dating again, huh?”

She shrugs.

“You’ll get over Ashe,” I say after another hesitation.

She grunts. “I am over Ashe. Over him. Over Sunny’s. Over it. I don’t even need to put him on my list. That’s not why.”

“Then, why?” I turn away from the eerie swamp’s full-sky reflection, preferring to see her instead. “Talk to me.”

She plops onto the dock, sitting cross-legged with her paper pressed against her notebook in her lap. She tucks her pen behind her ear. I sit across from her the same way, awaiting her explanation, though I already suspect what she will say.

“Truth,” I say when she gets quiet. “It’s okay.”

“Truth is, I don’t want to make you feel worse.”

“The only way you can do that is by not talking to me.”

She scoffs. “That’s what you’ve been doing to me. Why should I be the open book when you slam yours shut every time we’re together?”

“I don’t slam it.” I rake a hand over my head. “You’re better at being an open book, but I’m trying. Tell me why you’ve sworn off dating.”