“Do you care if I join you?” Sawyer asked.

Gemma shrugged. “It’s your house. You can do what you want.”

“Is it my house?” Sawyer sounded perplexed as he sat down next to Gemma, dangling his own legs over the edge of the balcony.

“Yeah, it’s your house.” Gemma gave him an odd look. “At least that’s what you told me the other day.”

“Right, right.” He shook his head as if to clear it. “Of course. It’s my house.” He leaned against the railing, resting his chin on his arms. “It’s just that lately it feels more like Penn’s house.”

“Yeah, I can understand that,” she said. He sighed, and she turned to face him. “Do you even like her?”

“Penn?” Sawyer asked, then nodded quickly. “Yes. Of course I like her. I’m crazy about her. I don’t think I can live without her.”

“Why?” Gemma asked him directly.

“Because…” He furrowed his brow, seemingly finding it difficult to think of a single reason why. “I feel so restless when she’s not around, like I can’t get comfortable.”

Gemma knew that Sawyer didn’t really care about Penn, at least not to the degree that he acted. But she thought he’d at least cite Penn’s beauty or her voice as a reason for being so devoted to her.

She wondered what his absence of reasons meant. Maybe Sawyer didn’t like Penn at all. If Penn took away the siren song, he might even detest her. But Gemma would probably never know how he really felt about Penn.

“I know I love her,” Sawyer said finally. “But when I try to think of why, it’s all a blur. All I can hear is her song.”

“If you try to think, her song drowns it out?” Gemma asked.

“Yeah, kind of.” He nodded. “Sometimes it’s Lexi’s, too, but mostly it’s Penn’s. She sings to me a lot. I don’t think she likes when Lexi does.”

“Why do you say that?” Gemma asked.

“She always tells me not to listen to Lexi’s song,” he said. “And that’s really hard to do, because her song is the most beautiful I’ve ever heard.”

“Yeah, I can agree with that.”

Lexi’s song didn’t have the same power on Gemma that it once had. She still felt compelled to sing along with her, but she had no urge to do her or any of the sirens’ bidding. Still, Lexi had the loveliest singing voice Gemma had ever heard.

“Do you think…” Sawyer’s face scrunched up, as if he were in pain. “Does Penn love me?”

Gemma was shocked that he’d even asked her that question, and she didn’t know how to answer. She briefly considered lying to him, telling him the kinds of things she thought he’d want to hear, but she didn’t see the point.