“Taylor, listen—” Willa took a deep breath, and Taylor was absolutely certain she didn’t want to hear what would come next. “This trip is going to take the entire summer, and I really need to save money for Case.”

Anger boiled up inside Taylor. “God, you’re just as bad as everyone else. You promised.”

“What was I supposed to say? She was dying.”

“You promised,” Taylor repeated. “Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”

Willa’s voice was flat as she said, “I wanted to take this trip with her.” She didn’t say not with you, but Taylor heard it anyway.

“You’re such a bitch.”

Willa tried to shrug it off, but not before Taylor saw the flash of hurt in her eyes. “If you want to go,” Willa said, walking away, “don’t let me stop you.”

That was where they’d left it.

Until Taylor decided maybe this was something she could do on her own. To her way of thinking, the biggest challenge would be the actual sailing part of the trip. Motoring through canals and down the Intracoastal Waterway would be kind of like driving a car, and she was an okay driver. Just one tiny fender bender when she backed her mom’s SUV into a telephone pole. Taylor would just have to keep the boat between the channel markers, and those were like roads, right? Her dad could teach her how to set an anchor. And if she needed to dock the boat, she would go slowly and use lots of fenders.

Taylor wanted to believe she was brave enough to go it alone. She fantasized about keeping a blog of her adventures, and maybe the newspaper would do an article about how she was solo sailing as a tribute to her dead best friend. Finley would be super proud of her.

But the closer Taylor got to the leaving date, the more her nerves twisted into knots. What if she fell overboard? What if the boat sank? What if a freighter plowed over her in the middle of the night? There were so many ways the trip could go wrong. More than once she considered apologizing to Willa, but pride pulled her back every single time.

Today, when her mom drove through the sailing club gate and Taylor saw Willa’s sleeping bag and pile of grocery bags, her insides went soft with relief. But now she’s relieved and irritated at the same time. She hates the way her own mother makes it seem like Willa’s last-minute change of heart is heroic. Like she never believed Taylor could do this on her own.

“Oh, goodness!” her mom exclaims. “We forgot Pumpkin’s food. I’ll run home and get it.”