“The Outer Banks.” She stared, waiting. Expectant and righteous. Which, he supposed, she’d earned. He should do something with his hands, which seemed to hang awkwardly, so he tried to put them in his pockets before remembering that he had no pockets. He put his hands on his hips, then let them fall again.

Peopling was hard.

“Well?” Sarah asked.

“Right. Listen . . . I said some stupid things. Unkind things. About you.”

“Yes. You did.”

“Yeah.” His shoulders relaxed a fraction. “So we’re good, then?”

She twitched. “Excuse me?”

“Um . . . are we okay?”

“No, Joshua. You haven’t apologized.”

He blinked. “I just did.”

“No, you just acknowledged your assholery. You haven’t apologized at all.”

“Oh.” He wished he had Pebbles, but she was with Darius and Sebastian. “Well, I’m sorry.”

“Shitty job, Josh. Try again.” Her face was hard, mouth tight. She looked like she might spit acid at him in another minute.

He blew out a breath, trying to give her what she wanted. “I’m very sorry?” She shook her head. “Sarah, I’m sorry for what I said.” He paused. “You were a good friend to Lauren. She appreciated you.”

Sarah had her hands on her hips. “Still not feeling it.”

“I’m deeply sorry.”

“Do you even have normal human emotions, Josh? Because what you said cut me to my heart, okay? There was nothing you could’ve said that would’ve hurt more. So a few crappy sentences aren’t going to cut it.”

“No,” he said.

“What?”

“No, I’m not sure I have normal human emotions. I did with Lauren. But . . . not so much anymore.”

Sarah’s face softened, becoming quite pretty and not like she was going to spit acid anymore. She opened her arms, so he had to hug her, which he did, but not too hard and not too long.

“I’m forgiving you for her sake. Let’s have dinner sometime, though, and really talk.”

More talking? Shit. “That’d be great. Thank you.”

“The race is starting. Let’s go.”

Thank God. He joined Lauren’s family. Sebastian and Octavia were gleeful at being pushed in running strollers decorated with blue and green streamers. Darius, the former football player, was in admirable shape, and Jen was, too—they both did that kind of exercise where they threw truck tires and did one-handed push-ups till they vomited. Sarah had run cross-country in college, if he remembered correctly. And he ran, too, so it wasn’t like he was a slacker.

Except, apparently, he was. Within a quarter of a mile, he was working hard to keep up. Sarah’s legs were inches longer than his, and Darius and Jen had a game going on where each kid got to be in the lead for a few strides before the other overtook them. Josh, on the other hand, was hurting. Leg cramps. Side pain.