River pulled into the driveway and killed the engine. “Let me walk you to your door.”

Addison stopped him with a hand on his forearm.

“Wait,” she said. “What I took from you. Do you remember what it felt like?”

“Don’t make me go into this right now,” River said. “You’ve had a rough enough night as it is. This is only going to hurt us both.”

“Please,” she begged. An idea had started to take form in Addison’s mind.

River sighed, but he dropped his hold on the door handle and leaned back against the headrest.

“I don’t remember,” he said. “That’s why it hurts. When I think of my grandfather and try to remember how he made me feel, there’s just this big hole.”

“Like the memory harvest,” Addison pressed.

“I guess,” River replied. “It’s been a long time since I’ve given anything up to it. After what happened…” He shrugged.

“The memories weren’t gone, though,” she said, her words getting faster as the realization hit her.

“But—”

She barreled on, eyes wide. “They were right there in the bottle, even after all these years.” Addison didn’t know how the memories her mother had offered up had made their way into the bourbon, how the Bonner distillery had managed to capture them. But it made sense that they’d gone somewhere. Pain didn’t disappear when the Haywoods took it; why would memories disappear when the bourbon took them?

“What if…” She thought of that blackberry vine offering her its fruit, the garden’s own feelings hiding inside of it. “I think there might be a way to get back what I took from you,” she said.

“You already tried,” River said. “And it didn’t work.”

“This is different. This is…” She pressed her lips together. “I don’t know what this is. But I’d like to give it a shot… if it’s okay with you.”

River shook his head sadly, but Addison tugged him out of the car.

“Come on,” she said. “Let me get at least one thing right tonight.”

“I’m only entertaining this because you’re upset,” he said as Addison dragged him around the Haywood home, past the guesthouse.

“Trust me,” Addison said.

“I did that before and look where it got us.”

The words stung, but she didn’t let them stop her as she dropped to her knees in the dirt, her skirt fanning out around her. The plants shifted, turning to face her.

“Did they just…” River knelt beside her, so close their arms almost touched.

“Yeah.” Addison grinned. “They did.” She ran her thumb over a nearby leaf, and she felt it press back at her, almost like it was comforted by her presence, like it had been waiting for her return.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” River asked.