“No, not other than how angry he’s been at both of us, I guess.” She sighed. “There are too many things in my life that don’t make any sense right now. I wish I had some answers.”

They stopped in the sports lobby just outside of the locker rooms. Nisha’s senior portrait, blown up and framed with black velvet, hung on a corkboard next to the ticket office. In the picture her cobalt dress was bright against her dark skin. She gave the camera a serious look, obviously trying to appear like the dignified future Ivy Leaguer she imagined herself to be, but the photographer had somehow caught the ghost of a smile on her lips. All around the picture, people had pinned notes and cards, poems and song lyrics and messages in pink sparkly pen that Nisha would have mocked as far too girly.

“It’s just so awful,” Emma whispered. Thayer nodded, the corners of his mouth turning downward as he looked at the picture, too. She sighed. “Well, I’d better get changed. Thanks for . . . for walking with me.”

Thayer turned to look at her again, his gaze searching and intense, as though he was seeking something in her features but didn’t know what. Emma ducked away, suddenly afraid of Thayer’s hazel eyes.

“It’s weird,” he said quietly. “Something about you has really changed. Sometimes it feels like you turned into a whole new person while I was away.”

“Maybe I grew up,” Emma replied, her heart lurching nervously. “Or maybe you did, and you’re just seeing me differently.”

Thayer shook his head. “I don’t know much, Sutton, but I know nothing can change the way I feel about you.”

Relief flooded my body—the boy I loved so desperately still loved me back. But it was tempered by a deep feeling of sadness. Thayer had so many more memories of our time together, whereas all I had were a few scattered scenes. Would I ever get those memories back?

Emma’s breath felt strangely short. She glanced up at Thayer’s wounded and confused expression, then looked quickly away. “I have to go.”

“Yeah. Okay.” He shoved his hands into his pockets. “See you, Sutton.” He turned toward the glass double doors and walked away from her.

She and I watched his retreating form together. I wanted to call out and stop him, to somehow let him know that I’m still here—and still in love with him. But he didn’t look back, not even once.

6 - The Canyon’s Secret

6

THE CANYON’S SECRET