The next day is Saturday. There are no classes or work assignments, but it’s a full day of rehearsals, so we don’t get to sleep in. I groan along with all the others when my alarm goes off, and I join the zombie-like procession of girls headed to the bathroom.

The bouquet of lavender is still lying on the porch railing this morning. It’s damp and drooping. Wet with fog that’s settled into dew.

But it’s still there.

Which means it’s real.

Which means someone left it there. For me.

I fake my way through breakfast. Laugh at Jude’s jokes while my mind works. Promise Lex and Val that everything’s fine. Eat half a muffin, just to make it more convincing. But the whole time, I’m wondering about those little purple flowers.

Ghosts don’t leave gifts. Right?

In rehearsal, we spend the morning and the first part of the afternoon working scenes we’ve already done. Willa wants those sections polished before we move on. And things go so well that I start to feel a little better. When I’m onstage and things are really clicking, I can almost convince myself that all the strangeness of the past week never happened. That Whisper Cove is just what I told Lex it was on that very first night, summer camp without the god-awful canoeing.

“Beautiful work, lovelies,” Willa finally tells us late in the day. “Time to move on to something new. This is the third meeting between Eden and Orion. It’s nighttime. Dark outside. And Eden comes to meet Orion beside the river.”

Jude picks up the blanket from the prop table and tosses it to Cole, who spreads it out on the stage floor.

“Okay, you two,” Willa says. “This is the scene where things really start to heat up between Eden and Orion. So I need you to dig deep.”

I nod and sneak a glance at Cole as he bends to pick up the guitar. His fingers glide over the strings, and suddenly all I can think about is his touch. Last night. Him reaching for my hand. Those fingers on my neck. The brush of his lips against my ear.

Shared secrets.

“From the top of the scene,” Willa says. “Whenever you’re ready.” So I give Cole time to get settled on the blanket. He plays the opening notes of that melody. Eden’s song. And my heartbeat slows to match the music. Some memory is tugging at me. It’s right there. Just below the surface. But I can’t get my mind around it. It’s still too slippery. So I let a few bars go by before I take a deep breath and start with the first line.

EDEN: Hi.

Cole stops playing and turns to look at me.

ORION: I didn’t know if you’d come tonight.

EDEN: You were playing my song, so I had to come.