I nodded and took a drink of my salted caramel shake. “What do you think he meant? I’m thinking it has to be that if he had been in Sullivan’s place, right?” At least that was what I’d told myself just about every hour since he’d dropped that line on me. The rest of the story had been hard to hear, but not the earth-shattering confession he had tried to make it. I knew Cam could never have been responsible for Sullivan’s death.

But now I knew just how responsible he actually felt, and that came with the knowledge that he’d use that guilt to freeze me out if I gave him the chance.

“I think he meant exactly that. If he had been the one dying, he would have said your name.” She sagged against the seat, like I’d knocked the wind out of her. “Man, I never in a million years thought Camden Daniels had a romantic bone in his body.”

“Romantic? No, just logical, because if he’d been Sullivan, then he would have been dating me, and that makes sense.” My words slowed, and I drank again, but my milkshake didn’t taste quite as sweet with that next sip.

“Wait, what?” she questioned, sitting up straighter. “I think we’re crossing wires here, or you’re purposefully trying to misunderstand.”

“Misunderstand? No. I mean, I guess there was this part of me that always hoped…” I couldn’t say the words out loud.

“That you’d end up with Cam?” Charity asked quietly.

I dragged my eyes to hers but couldn’t nod. Couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t answer that basic question, because it would rip apart the very foundations I stood on.

It was okay to be friends with Cam. Okay to be best friends with Cam. Okay to watch movies with him, hike with him, read with him, sit quietly with him while we grew up. Okay to be defended by him and defend him. Okay to sleep next to him the night his mom died and hold his hand during the funeral. We’d been kids.

Maybe it was even okay to kiss him. I was probably one of the only girls in Alba who hadn’t kissed him as a teenager.

But it was most definitely not okay to envision any kind of future.

Charity watched me until she sighed and shook her head. “You two are a damned Shakespearean tragedy. It’s slightly entertaining yet incredibly painful to watch.”

“You’re not helping,” I accused.