Just quickly.

Maybe on the cheek, or the corner of his mouth—

The bathroom door swings open. Casper shuffles across the hall and into the room, arms jutting out in front of her, eyes rolled back, groaning.

"Convincing," I say, heart pounding a beat too fast. Not because of her, but because if she hadn't shown up I honestly would have tried to kiss Adam.

Casper lets her arms drop, gray mouth twisted up into a smile.

"Whose shirt is that?" Adam asks, tugging on her sleeve. One side of it is slipping partway down her thin shoulder. Casper tugs it back up, ruffles her own short hair, and turns away.

"It belonged to Joshua. My boyfriend."

I have the sudden urge to sink into the floor and die. Did I seriously pick out the one shirt in her entire closet that was sure to bring up things she didn't want to think about? "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It's comfortable. Still smells a little like him." She plops onto her bed and pulls on a pair of clean socks. "Just because we don't talk anymore doesn't mean I shouldn't remember the happy things, right?"

Adam and I exchange looks before I offer, "Why don't you call him?"

"God, no. Last I heard, he was dating someone else. I stopped talking to him for a reason and I'm not going to confuse him by taking it back this close to..." Her words trail off, leaving behind a heavy silence of everything she isn't saying.

This close to the end. Right.

Casper rolls her eyes, like the topic annoys her somehow, and turns away. "I want to hit up a few houses for candy before the street is flooded with brats. Let's go."

She fetches a few plastic bags for candy before we traipse into the kitchen where her parents are filling a big orange bowl with suckers. We say in unison: "Trick-or-Treat!" They both turn to stare at us.

There's a laugh that quickly dies on their lips when they see Casper. Robert recovers quickly enough with a smile that is all too forced, but Amanda's lower lip quivers. Glassy-eyed, she manages a mousy excuse me before hurrying out of the room.

Casper's face is stone, like she didn't notice a thing. She shoves her plastic bag out to Robert, hard smile in place. "Do we get candy?"

Robert's jaw is tight with the effort he's putting toward not crying. He scoops up a handful of suckers and deposits them into each of our bags. I'm not sure what the point is. I don't care for candy, and Casper doesn't care for much of anything edible anymore, but she grins and winds her arm around her dad's waist in a quick, firm hug. Robert kisses the top of her head.

"Are you sure about going out...?"

"We're just stopping by a few places. Be back in twenty minutes," Casper assures him, and we leave the house and pretend we don't hear Amanda sobbing in the back room.