“Delia.” Lucy wrapped her hand around Delia’s wrist. “It’s okay. I’m happy for you.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah,” Maddie said. “You deserve it. You kicked major ass. This whole time. Especially during your part of the presentation. Sorry I choked, by the way.”

“I’m not,” Delia said. “I’d have wondered ‘what if’ every day if I hadn’t gone onstage. I’ll take being scared over regrets.”

“Sounds like a toast,” Maddie said, reaching for the bottle.

“Uh,” Lucy said, watching her grasp it by the neck without placing a hand over the top. “Have you ever opened one of those before, because—”

Maddie rolled her eyes and twisted too fast and the cork shot out of the bottle with a thunderous pop!—soaring into the sky and plummeting into the fountain below.

“Duck!” Maddie cried, peering over the edge.

“A little late with the warning, isn’t it?” Lucy said.

“No, because it’s for us—I’m pretty sure that’s a campus cop down there!”

“A what?” Delia cried, and Lucy dragged them both down onto her comforter where they all devolved into hushed laughter as they tried to catch the cascade of bubbly spewing from the bottle.

As Delia sat cross-legged, she stroked the blanket.

“Good enough to nap under?” Lucy said, raising an eyebrow.

“It was once,” Delia said, sheepishly.

“Twice,” Lucy said.

“It looked lonely?”

Maddie poured champagne into each of their glasses. “If napping under this means she can code like that, well, give her the damn thing.” Maddie raised her glass in the air. “Now, what first?”

“To Delia,” she and Lucy said at the same time.

Lucy propped herself up on her heels. “To Delia. Who brought so many things to life—from Lit to Girl Empowered to—”

“Us. She wouldn’t let us quit,” Maddie said.

Their plastic cups may not have made a sound when they touched, but it didn’t matter, because each of their hearts was beating loud enough.

They sipped. Delia hiccupped and lifted her glass. “And to both of you. I may have been able to do this on my own, but I wouldn’t have wanted to.”

“Me neither,” Maddie said.

“Well . . .” Lucy started, and they both shot her a look. “Kidding, just kidding.” She took another sip. “So, Delia’s staying, but I’m curious . . . Madeline, have you been drawn in by our sunshine too?”

“Rain makes things green, you know,” Maddie said.

“And wet.”

“And lets you take a shower longer than three minutes.”

“Huh,” Lucy said, “you got me there.”

“There’s much to like here,” Maddie said, quickly glancing at each of them. “But I think the East Coast is calling me. Maybe NYU. It’s a great school and the city’s full of artists and museums and—”

“You’re a good sister, Maddie,” Delia said. Maddie shrugged uncomfortably, and Delia changed the subject. “What’s next for you, Lucy?”