Joy pressed her chin against her collarbone. A single tear traced down her cheek.

Her mom looked at her own plate and sighed. “I’ve lost my appetite. Finish up, Joy. I’ll take care of the dishes later.” She excused herself from the table, lost in her grief as Joy suffered with her own.

The accident played on repeat in her mind. Judy’s final request recycled nonstop, words Judy would never tell anyone. Joy sat at the table alone, staring unfocused at the empty space across from her, until she couldn’t handle the solitude.

Without any real thought to what she had in mind, she went out back and stood at the edge of the swimming pool. She stood there for a very long time. The water beckoned. So did the chance to silence the shame and guilt that had tormented her since she woke up in a crumpled car, sisterless. The water would wash it all away.

She took a step forward, her foot hovering over the pool.

“Joy, no!” her mother screamed. She was suddenly behind her, and turned Joy around to pull her into her arms.

Joy gasped, startled, then burst into tears.

“How could you do this to us? We can’t lose you, too.”

Joy sobbed. How could she have been so selfish? She had a flair for disappointing her parents. But guilt was a cancer she needed to cut out before it killed her. There had to be another way to absolve it, a solution that wouldn’t harm anyone she loved.

Dylan tossed his map on the table and sank into the seat across from her. Joy jerked at his sudden arrival. She hadn’t heard him approach. Her heart started racing and she breathed through her distress. It had been a long time since her mind took her down that rabbit hole. She’d almost forgotten she’d tried to end the pain.

Dylan spread the map out on the table. “Don’t ask what we’re doing. I want to surprise you. But here’s where we’re going.” He pointed at a spot on the map, the Navajo Bridge. He then traced the route, describing the road, showing her landmarks, and pointing out a construction zone that had shown up on Google Maps when he’d looked up the bridge. Would she be okay driving, and did she mind if he slept on the way? He hadn’t gotten much sleep last night.

Joy regarded him with new interest. In less than a day he’d picked up on her driving anxiety and had wasted no time to put her at ease. She felt the burn of tears and the desire to pay him back in kind.

Dylan looked up. “You okay?”

Joy nodded, trying to discreetly dab away the moisture.

“Excellent.” He grinned, then signed the check and glanced at his watch. “We gotta go.”