I nod, and Cole and I move to our places. He’s sitting on the bench, and he pulls out that guitar. His fingers slide across the strings, and Eden’s melody fills the barn. I feel every single note so deep inside my chest, and before I even realize it, there are tears sliding down my cheeks. No piece of music has ever affected me like this.

Just for a second, I have the very beginnings of a memory. Something about my mother. But then it slips away before I can wrap my fingers around it. And it feels like having her ripped out of my arms. My chest is being squeezed so hard my heart and lungs have surely turned to powder. I’m a girl with chalk dust where her insides should be.

I walk toward the bench where Cole is sitting. “That’s a beautiful song,” I say. My cheeks are still wet, but I don’t bother to wipe away the tears. I don’t have anything to hide from Cole. “Is it okay if I sit here?”

He turns to look at me, and there are tears in his eyes, too.

“Eden?” When Cole breathes that name, it sounds like a kiss. “I knew you’d come back.”

“I think I used to know a girl called that,” I say. “It sounds familiar.”

“Don’t you know who I am?” he asks. “I wrote that song for you.”

I walk around the bench and sit beside him. I shake my head.

“You must have me confused with someone else.”

Cole puts out his hand to touch me, and I shrink back from him.

“Please don’t,” I say. “I don’t know you.”

I look out toward the river. And something about the way it looks in the moonlight scares me. It’s still and perfect tonight. But somehow, I remember it swirling. Bubbling and rising. I remember it pulling me down. Below the surface.

I remember being swept away.

My breathing is fast and shallow. My pulse flutters. I need more air.

“I know you,” Cole tells me, and those three words are my anchor. Cole knows me. He remembers who I am. “I’ll always know you.”

“This is such a lovely spot,” I tell him. “But I don’t know why I’m here. “

“I know why I’m here,” he says. “I’m waiting for someone. A girl I knew once.”

“I hope you find her.”

He smiles. “Maybe she’ll find me.”

“Is she someone you love?”

Cole reaches out to touch my hair. And this time I don’t pull away. “Someone I more than love.”

I sigh. “I think I more than loved someone once. I can almost remember him.”

“Here.” Cole picks up the guitar again. “Maybe this will help.”