“Ironically, no. This time I opened up, all the way. And this time, unlike any of the others, I actually did the dumping.”

“Well, that was stupid,” Kenny said.

Joe had to agree.

That evening the phone rang while Joe was sharing a can of SpaghettiOs with Ashes.

“Summer needs you,” Chloe said without a greeting.

“What?”

“Just get here. Oh, and don’t tell her I called you.”

He paid yet another cab driver yet another ridiculous amount of money, and twenty minutes later got out in front of Chloe’s condo. “Where is she?” he asked when Chloe opened the door.

“In the kitchen. I burned dinner and the smoke alarm went off. She sort of freaked.”

He found Summer sitting on the counter, hugging her knees, staring out at the ocean. At the sight of him, she let out a long breath and shook her head at her cousin. “Damn it, Chloe.”

Chloe chewed her fingernail. “I’m so not sorry.”

“Well, I am.” Summer turned to Joe. “You didn’t have to come.”

“Tell me what happened,” he said.

“Nothing.”

Chloe snorted. “You had a damn panic attack.”

“Did not.”

“Right.” Chloe rolled her eyes at Joe. “I think I’ll leave her to you.”

When she was gone, Summer sighed. “I really am sorry. It’s just that the alarm triggered some stupid response in me and in a heartbeat, I was back at that warehouse fire.”

“There weren’t any alarms at that fire.”

Her eyes were clouded. “No, but when I woke up in the hospital, Tina was there, holding my hand. It was a few days later, and I was so groggy. I was awake for a few minutes before she realized, and she was talking to someone about the fire, and the lack of an alarm. I guess that stuck with me.”

“Was she talking to your mom?”

She squeezed her eyes shut. “I can’t remember. My head hurt. God, it hurt so bad.”

“You took a good hit,” he said quietly.

“Yeah.” She rubbed her chest as if that hurt too. “I was pinned on the floor of the warehouse. Couldn’t breathe.”

Joe blinked. This wasn’t a hospital memory, but from the actual fire. It was coming back to her?

“I can still hear my dad.” Her voice broke. “I tried to get to him but the beam held me down.”

Small tremors wracked her body and he limped closer, knowing she’d never remembered past this point. “Red, don’t. It’s okay—”

“I screamed. I wanted help. And through the smoke I saw someone, only they didn’t come help me.” She clapped her hand over her mouth and stared at him. “Oh my God.”

He set down the crutches and put both hands on her arms, gently squeezing. “It was me. You saw me. I came up those stairs after you and was there right after you got hit.”