“Plus, she thought the way I spent my time was dumb. Revoltingly wholesome, she said. I was always playing sports, or studying, or hanging out with my family. She did all those things, too. But they were her cover, what she did to keep her perfectionist dad off her back, give him the things he wanted so he’d give her the space to do the things she wanted.”

“And what things did she want to do?”

“Nighttime things, she called them.”

“Nighttime things?”

“All-nighttime things would have been a more accurate term for them. Like, she never went to sleep.”

“She must’ve slept sometime.”

“Well, yeah, obviously she slept sometime. But not much. She slept less and had more energy than any person I’ve ever met. I tried, but I just flat-out couldn’t keep up with her. Not for long. Not without my rowing and my schoolwork going down the toilet.”

Alice considered for a bit. “Maybe it was the drugs she was doing with Jude. Certain ones can give you superhuman stamina.” A sheepish smile breaking across her face. “Or so I’ve read.”

Tommy nodded. “I’m sure they helped. Or, I guess, didn’t help. Also not helping was Jude. He was bad for her, encouraged all her worst tendencies, her worst impulses.”

“I’m sure that’s why she was with him. If she wanted a nice guy, she would have stayed with you.” After a pause. “Why does he call you Crash?”

Tommy looked at her sharply. “What?”

“Jude. Why does he call you Crash?”

Looking away from her, eyes on the sand, he said, “I was driving my dad’s golf cart a couple years ago. I meant to press the brake pedal, pressed the gas pedal instead, knocked over a few trash cans. It’s a stupid nickname. He’s stupid.”

After delivering this verdict, Tommy fell into a brooding silence.

Alice broke it. “Look, I understand why you feel guilty, Tommy. I do. But why do you feel so guilty? What more could you have done? If someone keeps pushing you away, eventually you have to stay away. I mean, right?”

When she looked to him for an answer, she saw that he was shaking his head at her. And coating his eyes was a sheen of moisture, either from emotion or from the wind, which had just picked up. “Listen, I appreciate you saying that. But there are things you don’t know. Things you couldn’t possibly under—”

Before he could get the rest of the sentence out, she leaned forward, stopping his mouth by kissing it. The kiss was fast. Barely a kiss. A graze, really.

He stared at her, surprised by what she’d done. Not as surprised, though, as she was.