“All of it.” I looked away from him, focusing on my hands clutching the ribbon-wrapped box.

He twisted the key in the ignition and pulled out of the lot, heading south past quaint shops and treelined walkways. “Up for a hike?”

“Sure,” I murmured, glad we would be doing something active, something that would keep me moving.

Ian brushed the tips of his fingers along the top of the box while he kept his eyes on the road. “Did you notice?”

I watched his tanned hand, keeping my own very still. “Notice what?”

He smiled. “The way nobody looked at you cross-eyed. The way your money was just as good as anyone else’s.”

I shifted in my seat so that my back was to the window. “Are you suggesting,” I said slowly, “that my feelings about not belonging in Barrington were wrong?”

He shrugged. “I’m only saying that if you give people a chance, they might not disappoint you all the time.”

I fiddled with the gold-and-red ribbon, suddenly wishing for an escape route. The dark shape on my forearm caught my eye again. Nadia’s face. She and I had come from different places, too, and like Ian, it hadn’t mattered to her, either. I’d dreamed of her last night, of walking with her by a clear stream, of hearing her laugh, watching her grin as the silver scales of fish caught the light of the summer sun. I’d wanted to ask her how she was, but found I didn’t have a voice, didn’t have words. Or maybe words were unnecessary. She was past that kind of thing, deep within a peace so full that there was no room for anything else. When I’d gasped myself awake, the envy almost choked me.

After letting me drift in my thoughts for a good long while, Ian pulled over. “Come on. We’re here.”

I looked around, and thought of Nadia again. “The Cliff Walk?” We were at the place I’d died. And come back to life.

“I’ve got a few favorite spots. I think we’re early enough to avoid the wedding picture crowd.”

He hopped out of the car, and together we picked our way along the rocky start of the trail, leading to the path along the ledges overhanging the ocean. My heart skittered with the memories of the night I’d followed this trail straight over the edge.

Ian led the way past that high, shrub-covered hill, to a spot where the rocks became boulders and the sun sent diamond shards of light off the surface of the ocean. He climbed up on one and sat down, and I joined him, leaning my head back to feel the late-spring sun on my face.

“Have you been here before?”

“I came here with Nadia a few times. She loved this place, too.”

“Damn. I was hoping I’d be the first to bring you here.”