“Um, she won the previous year. Last year I won,” I explained. “But she just looked so crushed that I told the judges I was going to share it with my best friend.”

I hadn’t minded sharing my win—hadn’t she shared everything else in her life with me? Her mom, her boyfriend? She was generous. Maybe she’d been too generous for too long, though. That was when it had all turned sour.

“Oh, that was a nice thing to do,” said Lorcan. But the way he said it made me think he didn’t quite believe it. “Is Levi coming?”

Levi would be at the art center today. He’d offered to join me to cheer Lucy on, but I knew how motivated he was to work on his latest painting. “Nah, he had some work to do. He said he’d meet us later, though.”

Lorcan nodded. “Cool.”

Truthfully, I could do with the space. It hadn’t come up again, but the long-distance thing … I wasn’t sure it was going to work. Seeing Lucy and Lorcan together just cemented it further in my mind. They did everything together, whether it was sandcastle building or working at the fish fry. Those were things you couldn’t do through a computer screen. Skype was no substitute for the things I wanted—for the things I’d never had.

As much as I’d loved Elodie, it had burned when I’d seen other couples holding hands at the beach, kissing in the park, slinging their arms around each other as they made their way home at night, slightly tipsy. I’d wanted all those dumb little inside jokes and embarrassing pet names that everyone would make fun of us for, and I had wanted those things with her. And all she wanted was for us to be kept a secret. We wanted different things, and I was always the one folding. I couldn’t compromise again—my heart couldn’t take it. Not with him.

I glanced up at the stage. Penny was looking right at me. There was a hint of something on her face, something that gave me pause. It looked so much like sorrow that my knees threatened to buckle.

She slowly descended the stage. The crowd parted for her, all eyes focused on the spectacle in red she made as she strode in a straight line to where I stood. I didn’t dare move. Our eyes were still locked together.

“Hey, I’m going to head up there,” said Lucy, eyeing Penny’s progression with apprehension. “C’mon, Lorc. Four’s a crowd.”

They exchanged nods with Penny as they left. I almost wanted to tell them not to go, because I had no idea what she wanted to say to me. Part of me didn’t want to know.

“Did you tell Chad to break up with me?” was the first thing out of her mouth.

“What? No!”