Kassandra and her friend, Lucy, fly here two days later and they really are a breath of fresh air in our funeral party. They force us to get out of the room—they call it sun therapy, they make us eat our vegetables, they take us to visit the towns nearby, and they give us pot to smoke—they call it laughing therapy. Normally, I would censure this behavior, but if the only thing that can get me in “high spirits” is getting high, I’ll cut a break on disapproval.

Kassandra’s a free spirit, much more than I was in my wildest days. And I need her vitality, her energy, to pull through these first days of my new Jake-free life.

Two weeks later, on our last night at the resort, I’m having a cocktail with my sister on the patio. We’re cozily settled in plush chaise lounges, gazing at the ocean.

“Thank you for coming here.” I look at Kassandra. “I know I don’t say it enough, but I love you.”

“Aw, puh-leeease. I can take a five-star vacation anytime you need me to.”

“I know, but I also know you have your life in San Diego. And you can say what you like about this not being Spring Break, but if Mom and Dad give you the same allowance they gave me in college, this must’ve been a stretch on your finances.”

She mumbles something and hides her face in her cocktail glass.

“What’s with the guilty face?” I ask her.

“Mom and Dad helped fund this trip,” she confesses.

“How come?”

“I told them why you were here and they were worried.”

“You told them about Amelia’s wedding?”

“No.” Pause. “The other wedding.”

I laugh despite myself. “Gosh, you sound like Harry Potter.”

“Why? They had weddings in Harry Potter?”

“Just one, but you said the ‘other wedding’, like the ‘other ministry.’”

“Gemma…”

“Uh?”

“You’re such a nerd.”

“So I get heartbroken and you get a free vacation?”

“Come on, Mom and Dad were just worried. They didn’t want you to be alone.”

“I wasn’t alone.”

“Ames was hardly going to play cheerleader. We’re family, and I was a two-hour flight away from you, which doesn’t happen that often lately. I miss you.”

“I miss you too. You should take up my offer and come to visit me in London. It’s a fun city, I promise.”

“And I promise I’ll come, someday. How are you, really? Can I send you back alone?”

“I’m not going to kill myself, I swear. You’ve done a great job; we would’ve been a sad party without you. I’m going to be all right.”

“Can I ask you something?”

“I’m not going to like this ‘something’, uh?”

“If you loved him so much, why did you break up with him?”