“I’m so sorry, Stevie.” Kat’s words were tumbling out like she couldn’t say them fast enough. “I never should have lied to you about the play. I never should have chosen the play over you, and I’m sorry about the phone, and everything I said. I didn’t mean it, any of it—”

“I’m sorry too,” I said. And then we were hugging again, and Kat was wiping her nose and none of the people passing through Grand Central even gave us a second glance.

We broke apart and Kat’s eyes widened as she looked at me. She frowned. “Did you kiss someone?” I pressed my lips together, trying to flatten out my smile, and she grabbed my arm. “I knew it!” she said. “I can tell! Who?”

“You kissed someone,” I said, pointing at her, and she clapped her hand over her mouth like she was trying to hide the evidence, and even without being able to see it, I could tell she was smiling.

“Okay, I have to hear everything,” she said, glancing down at my feet, then up at me, “including where you got these boots, because I love them, but first we need to figure out what train we’re taking. Should we get the eleven-twenty and do our debrief there?”

I smiled and shook my head. “We’ve got a ride,” I said, enjoying her shocked expression. “Follow me.”

“This is fancy,” Kat said, raising an impressed eyebrow at me as we both got into the backseat of the town car. We’d gone outside; I had thought it made sense for us to be out there to see if we could see Leo circling, and if not, I’d just ask to borrow someone’s cell phone and call him—he’d given me his card. Kat had seemed shocked that I’d be willing to do that, but I’d explained that after someone tries to mug you for your phone, having someone tell you no doesn’t really carry the same weight. “What!” she’d yelled, and I’d laughed even as I scanned the street, looking for the town car. I was just happy about everything right now—that I had all these stories to tell her that she hadn’t heard. I needed to tell her about my dad, and finally tell her the truth about Beckett, safe in the knowledge that when I did, I would get to hear her reacting in the way that only she could.