“Shell,” Grace said in a dry tone, “what do you think we’re doing with Via right this very moment? Sticking our noses where they don’t belong.”

Via laughed. Now that Grace had actually said it out loud, any suspicions Via had had about their motives just sort of evaporated away. These were two well-meaning new friends, who were trying to support her. Could she really blame them if they wanted a little gossip as a side dish?

For some reason, she got the impression that whatever she said tonight was not going to be repeated. Her confessions were protected by these two women who’d been through plenty in their own lives. Even so, she resolved not to let on anything about how she was feeling for Sebastian.

“You don’t seem so nosy,” Via assured them.

“So...” Shelly started, laying a hand on Via’s forearm. “You’re all right, then? Not too torn up about the breakup?”

Via thought back on her last month, wanting to give an honest answer. “The first few days were really hard. You know, picking up your phone and realizing that you don’t have anyone to call.”

And realizing that you invested two years in someone who did not fit into your life. Who didn’t even want to fit into your life.

She gulped. “But I had my foster sister there with me for most of it, force-feeding me popcorn and tea and making me talk about my feelings.”

Grace and Shelly both laughed, exchanging eye contact. Via instantly understood that their bond was one of friendship and sisterhood just like hers and Fin’s.

“Why did you break up?” Grace asked.

Via gulped again.

Because you can’t date one man and have a burning grain of sand in your heart for another. “It was time. We...wanted different things. I guess I realized that I’d been staying with him for the wrong reasons.”

“Sex?” Grace asked candidly, making Shelly sputter into her stew and Via laugh at the unexpectedness of the comment. “What? I’m old, I’m not oblivious.”

“Sex didn’t factor into the breakup,” Via said as diplomatically as possible. She tried to gather her thoughts. Normally, in this situation, she would try to think of a generic answer. But something in her told her that Grace and Shelly might actually understand if she tried to explain the real reasoning. “People who grow up with family, I think they don’t even realize how much of a tether that is. If you have your family to anchor you to Earth, then you can kind of...take some chances flying your kite. But when I lost my parents, that tether went away and I had to find other things to anchor me down. Like work and my reputation and—”

“A nice, steady boyfriend.”

“Exactly,” Via said, pointing her spoon at Grace. She was thrilled that Grace seemed to understand. “And after a while, I realized that it’s not fair to stay with someone for that reason. Or at least in my case, I started to feel like I was using Evan for what he could provide for me instead of staying with him because of what we had together.”