“Do what?” I swam away from her.

“You know,” she said, following me, treading water. “You intentionally made that woman uncomfortable. Didn’t you?”

I turned and splashed at her lightly. “Kind of, I guess. I wasn’t trying to do it. But then, yeah. I guess maybe I did know she was uncomfortable.”

“That wasn’t nice,” said Jasper.

“No, I guess it wasn’t,” I said.

“Well, okay then,” said Jasper. And she swam off to the deep end.

I wasn’t exactly sure why I’d done it, and I knew I couldn’t explain it to Jasper. It was just a thing I’d done, because it had been in me to do. Because there was a broken little place inside me. A crumpled piece of paper I couldn’t straighten out. Because I was tired of everything being wrong with everyone I’d known all my life. Because it didn’t seem fair that some people got to be busy and comfortable, and others didn’t. Because saying the wrong thing felt better than keeping silent any longer.

A year was a long time to be silent.

I sank under the water and held my breath for a full minute.

The Vine Realm

After that day, I tried not to go places where we’d see people I knew. It was better just to be with Jasper. When we were all alone together, summer felt right. Like a little island of time set apart from the rest of the year. The days drained away like they’re supposed to. Like something you want to savor. Slowly, but still too fast.

Sometimes, Jasper would turn up on my porch in the morning after my parents had left for work, and together we’d make breakfast and spend a lazy morning watching TV or sitting around, talking. Normal things, like I used to do with Tess. The things I’d always done, until Sam died. One morning we gave ourselves facials. Another day, we weeded the incredibly overgrown garden my mom had been neglecting all year. I had no idea what I was doing, and I don’t think Jasper really did either, but it was nice to sit in the sun and dig in the dirt and smell all the green growing things. And that evening, when my mom came home from work, she noticed right away, perked up, and said, “Well, look at that! You know, Leah, I was a little nervous about you just hanging around the house, but I have to admit, you seem really mature this summer. . . .”