“Now you’ve got another reason to come back,” Sammy insisted. “Lila, me, and the Dollhouse.”

It was a good, comfortable evening with friends, and that was how I felt about Sammy and Lila: they were friends. Over time, we had become easy with one another, had learned the give and take of personality. Celebrating that friendship was not a task; it was a pleasure.

Still, there was something unsaid between Lila and me. I could sense it through the dinner. It was a question she had left in the car, on the drive from the Inn. When Sammy excused himself to go to the bathroom, Lila said it: “You can blame this on the wine, Bobo, but I’ve got to ask you something.”

“Ask.”

“Who are you looking for when you come up here? I’ve always wanted to know.”

“I don’t understand,” I told her.

“Of course you do. I see you. I’ve watched you for years. You didn’t know I was watching, but I was. I see the places you go when you walk, always the same, year after year. It’s as though you lost something a long time ago—a lucky penny, a pocketknife, a set of keys, something —and you keep looking for it. I see you standing around, always in the same places, like you’ve told somebody you would meet them there, and you’re waiting for them to pop up out of thin air.”

“Lila, I walk a lot of places when I’m up here. I enjoy it.”

She did not accept my answer. She shook her head and reached for my hand and held it. “I believe it’s possible for people to pop up out of thin air, Bobo,” she said quietly.

“And I believe it’s hard to breathe in thin air,” I replied.

“Who is she, Bobo?”

“Lila—”

“Tell me. Please. Who is she?”

I did not know why, but I wanted to hold Lila, and to be held by her. I wanted to cry into her shoulder. She knew. She had always known.

“Someone from my youth,” I answered quietly. “Someone from a long time ago. She made me feel special.”

“Did she have a name?”

I nudged the word out: “Amy.”

“Did you love her?”

I paused, remembered Amy holding me. I said, “Then, I did. Yes. Or I think so.”

Lila smiled. She leaned to me and kissed me softly on the cheek. She whispered, “That kind of then can last a long time, can’t it, Bobo?”

I looked away. Sammy was crossing the restaurant from the bathroom. I blinked the dampness from my eyes.

“I envy her,” Lila whispered.

“Why?” I asked.

“You’re glowing,” she said.