“I used to think that people like Heather and her friends embodied Whispering Farms. But I know now that’s not true. It’s us. It’s not just where we live, it’s who we are, as terrible as that thought sounds. It’s me. It’s you guys. It’s Liz. It’s our home. And we can save it, but only if we do it together.”

I looked at my friends, my heart racing, out of breath.

“I was told to make sure that whatever we do with Liz is worth it. And I know it’s unimaginable to think about what we’ve had to endure, and what we might have to do, but I know it’s worth it. It’s an awful sacrifice, but a worthy one. Please,” I added.

Jess gave a small sob and put her hands over her face. I sat down next to her and put my arm around her shoulders. Then I looked up at Melissa. For what felt like hours, she just stared back at me as she mulled over my words, like water rushing over a stone.

“Please,” I said again. “Just consider it for now.”

Jess looked up at Melissa, with my arm still around her shoulders, and said, “C’mon, Melissa. We can do this.”

Melissa took a step backward and slowly lowered herself onto the love seat. She clasped her hands in her lap. “You’re asking me to go against everything that I fought to forget. You know you’re asking me to do that, right?”

“I know. I’m sorry,” I said.

She stared at her hands, interlocking her fingers. She sighed and dropped them before she looked up. Her face was hard, and my heart beat even faster as I was sure she was going to say no.

“Fine. Let’s get that bitch out of our friend.”

CHAPTER
36

The three of us were mostly silent as we drove to downtown Chicago the next day. The weight of what we had to do hung thick in the air, swirling around us like the mist Liz created on the sidewalks.

After ninety long minutes, we arrived at the Equinox Bookstore. The front of it looked unassuming, like a place that hosted local authors talking about the native bird population. A small store with two windows and the name stenciled on the front with white paint sandwiched between two other stores, it felt like a location where a soccer mom might run in to grab the latest book her book club was reading, one that she would never actually read, just pounding wine at the meeting instead. Essentially, every book club in Winchester.