“I brought you some cocoa as a peace offering,” Noelle said, sitting down next to her. Miriam glanced over from inside her blanket cocoon, only her wild hair and hazel eyes showing. She scrunched her eyebrows at the mug of cocoa.

Noelle smirked. “It has three shots of espresso in it.”

Miriam snaked one arm out of the blankets to grab the cup. “That’s very kind. Thank you.”

Noelle rested one arm across the back of the swing and stretched her legs out, trying to figure out how to begin building a bridge between them.

“Are you here because Hannah told you to be nice to me?” Miriam asked, looking ethereal as the steam from her cup coiled up around her face.

“Yes,” said Noelle. “I thought I might try the unheard-of tactic of getting to know you before I decide if I hate you or not.”

Miriam chuckled. “You should spread the word of this tactic to the internet.”

They fell into silence for a few minutes before Miriam spoke again.

“I didn’t know about Levi and Hannah.”

Noelle wasn’t sure why Miriam was telling her this. “Why did you think he wasn’t here? Being an asshole? Didn’t care about his parents’ grief? Stuck on a boat?”

Miriam blew out a breath. “You know how they make cake pops? Cake scraps and frosting smooshed together in someone’s hands and then covered in a pretty coating?”

She nodded, waiting to see where Miriam was going with this.

“I’m kind of like that, right now, except made up of trauma and grief instead of cake and frosting. I knew he wasn’t here, I just hadn’t processed how strange that was. Everything is strange, right now.”

“That description of yourself does not inspire confidence in me, as a potential business partner,” Noelle said, without animosity. She understood trying to hold the little bits of yourself together when you lost people you loved.

Miriam held her hands up. “I’m not going to lie to you to get you to like me.”

“Does finding out about Levi and Hannah change anything for you?” Noelle asked, wondering if Miriam was angry or jealous to be on the outside of what had always been a triad.

“No, it just makes me sad they never told me. And I get why you thought I abandoned Hannah when she needed me. I didn’t know. I wish I had.” She shrugged.

Noelle didn’t point out that it was Miriam’s fault she didn’t know. Besides, she’d promised Hannah a truce, and she was too hollowed out by grief to keep trading barbs. “Let’s talk about something that’s not…any of this.”

Miriam nodded, staring out at the night, her blanket wrapped around her. “What’s it like to be the lone lesbian out here in the wilderness?” she teased.

“How do you know I’m a lesbian?” Noelle countered.