With a deep, steadying breath, I draw myself back to my feet, fix my face into a smile, and enter the ballroom, where the music instantly triples in volume. She hears me enter and swings around in her seat. The moment she sees me, she lights up. She lights up at the unexpected sight of me. I’m so relieved I glow right back at her.

“Rose, hey!” she says. “What’s up?”

“Oh, nothing,” I say, as casual as someone who hasn’t been sitting in uncertainty for weeks. “I have a boatload of homework, and myriad responsibilities, and I’m looking for an excuse to procrastinate on all of it.”

Danni gives me an amused look. “Is that right?”

“Yes, quite right, and then I remembered I owe you a skating lesson.”

“So, you thought you’d come and interrupt my piano practice to see if now was a good time for me?”

“Yes, exactly. Can’t hurt to ask, I thought.”

“Even though I was obviously in the middle of something?” She says it teasingly, wearing a broad smile. Well, in my defense, she always seems to be in the middle of something, and at least she hasn’t promised the piano to exclude me from their time together.

I fold my arms. “Are you telling me you’re reneging on our bargain? You did promise to make me a brilliant pianist if I taught you to skate, if I recall correctly.”

“Ahh,” she says with a wry grin. “So when you say you want to teach me, what you mean is you want me in your debt.”

“I ask for very little from you, you know.”

I’m still smiling, but at this, her expression loses its mirth. She studies me for a beat too long. Just long enough to confirm she caught the double meaning in my words. Of course she did. She never seems to miss the unspoken layers behind my words. “I know,” she says. There’s guilt there. I’m certain of it. “But I actually promised Caroline I’d practice every night this weekend.”

I hover by the seat until she shuffles to one side to make room for me to join her. Sitting, I lean my head against her shoulder and speak in my very best wheedling tone, just as I would have weeks ago, before she ever vanished. “Counterpoint: you like me more than Caroline, so don’t you want to keep your promise to me more?”

“Who said I like you more than Caroline?”

I lift my head up, indignant. “Don’t you?”

“Well, yeah. But that’s not the point.”

“What is the point?”