The dinner banter with Serena’s friends was easy, and she booked it to the dance floor with a group of girlfriends once the band started. I decided to check out the silent auction in the back of the room, and I wandered slowly, past tempting descriptions of cabins in Vermont, weeklong wine-tasting trips in the South of France, a brand-new Jeep Cherokee. Finally, I paused in front of a listing for a Tuscan villa and a tour through southern Italy. Franny should get to see Italy someday, I said to myself. She should get to experience that side of who she is, firsthand.

I was so distracted by the thought of her twirling pasta on a fork and smiling at me over a glass of Chianti that I almost missed the sound of someone sighing wistfully next to me. Something about the sound sent my gut reeling, and I twisted my head to the left. I had to blink to be sure she wasn’t an illusion, that my eyes weren’t taking this already strange night and making it stranger still. But the darkness opened back into light, and she was still there.

Franny. Always appearing when I least expected her.

She caught my eye, her head tilting back a bit in surprise. “Hayes.”

“Hi.”

“If you’re coming to save me from yet another disastrous wardrobe malfunction, you’re going to be sorely disappointed. This dress is basically glued on.” Her red lips curved up just the tiniest bit. I gulped and tried to play it cooler than I felt in my gut.

“Well, we’re both in luck, then,” I said, grinning back. “I only have one tux, and I’d like to keep it.”

I fiddled with my bow tie and attempted to subtly take Franny in, head to toe. She was wearing a sleek strapless black dress with a satin ivory bodice. It was elegant and timeless, a delicate necklace her only adornment. Her hair was still in a halo around her head, but it was secured with two small pearl barrettes, and her eyes seemed even brighter than usual.

“Cleo—one of my best friends—her mom is one of the cochairs of the gala. Has been since Cleo’s dad died of ALS thirteen years ago,” she blurted out, even though I hadn’t yet asked why she was there.

I nodded, and she continued, talking quickly. “This is how her mom has some control over the situation, I think. Trying to help people.”

“That makes a lot of sense,” I said, trying to sound calm. The last thing I wanted was for her to know how nervous I felt. Admitting how I felt about Franny to Perrine meant those thoughts were now out there in the world, alive. And that felt terrifying.