She gave a modest single-shouldered shrug. “I always dreamed of doing this, figured I might as well put all that community college to good use. And you know I’ve always loved to dance. I actually think doing this was fate. I met Robbie when I started setting it up. He works for the Chamber of Commerce now—one day he was giving me some marketing advice, and a few months later he was down on one knee. How could I resist those baby blues?”

“Robbie, right,” I said. Robbie Copely was in my brother’s grade, and he and Crissy dated briefly in high school. Robbie’s eyes, solid blue and framed by the dark, curly eyelashes of a beauty pageant contestant, were what made him stand out from the hoi polloi. “Sounds like you’ve got your dream job. That’s great,” I said, genuinely delighted. It was strange, standing next to Suze again. We’d been like sisters once, her clothes and the cloying scent of her drug store body wash as recognizable to me as my own. Through the edgy haircut I could see traces of the girl who had been my confidant. Had we not fallen out, I suspected we’d still be close. “Look, I’m sorry I didn’t stay in touch,” I said, and found that I meant it.

“Me too. I thought about calling, obviously, but I was pretty pissed at you for a while.”

“You were pissed at me?” I couldn’t help it: When I looked at her, I still saw Suze straddling one of the Boisselle twins and patting the empty space between her and the other brother. She’d spent an entire summer crawling through my bedroom window at two in the morning and threatening to jump to her death if I didn’t accompany her to a party.

“Of course I was,” she said with a slight frown. “You ditched me when I needed you most. I was a hot mess in high school. Middle school, too, actually. The drinking and drugs were a real problem for a while. Instead of sticking by me while I worked that shit out, you totally deserted me. I honestly couldn’t believe it when you stopped returning my calls. You were always the sensible one, Shana. If you think I made bad choices when you were around, you should have seen me after you cut me off. And it’s not like you were perfect. You had your faults.”

I was speechless. What had I expected from Suze? Certainly not a lecture. But her dance studio, and her giddy customers, proved she was right. The behavior that drove me away was just a phase. Everyone had them. How could I have been so myopic? Instead of looking for ways to pull my friend out of her bad-girl stage, I’d put my own well-being first and written her off as a lost cause. All these years I’d been vilifying Suzuka Weppler in my mind, convinced she was to blame for my own far tamer indiscretions. She wasn’t a heathen. I was never under her yoke, and yet I’d pushed her away. I’d seen myself as morally superior. In retrospect, it was disgraceful.