“Okay, that’s fine. Theo sucks. That’s on the record. But if she’s mad at me, we can fix that. It doesn’t matter. I can apologize for that.”

“But Meg, you two drifted apart. You have different lives. You want different things.”

“That doesn’t make sense! You don’t get it. It would never happen like that!”

“Well, what happened in your, eh, other life? What’s your friendship like there?”

She gives me a steady look, the way a good therapist might speak into their patient’s fantasy to get to the heart of things.

I clench my jaw to keep in control, unwilling to go all the way into it. I can’t, I never say out loud that she died. And in this case I think it might sound off different alarm bells than I need to. Aimee might not even see me if I go around saying something like that.

“We’re great,” I lie, instead.

She narrows her eyes at me. “I don’t believe you.”

“I’m going to call her.”

“Meg.”

My blood runs hot and cold in equal measure as I hit Aimee’s name.

“It’s ringing,” I say.

Kiera nods, accepting it. She looks almost as tense as I am.

The ringing stops. And for a moment I’m suspended in wait. I’m about to hear her voice.

Then … voicemail.

Hey, you’ve reached Aimee. Leave a message after the beep. I’ll call you back as soon as I can.

The beep goes off, and my tongue feels tangled. I’m so anxious there’s a pulse in my eyelids.

“Ah, uh, hi, Aimee, it’s Meg. Call me back as soon as you can. It’s urgent. And also, I’m sorry. About everything, ever. I don’t want to be in a fight or not talking or—call me back, okay? Anytime. But soon, like right away. Okay. Bye.”

I almost can’t bring myself to hang up. It’s the closest to talking to Aimee that I’ve come in over a decade.

I manage eventually, and then look at Kiera.

After a minute, I say, “I’m gonna call her again.”

“No, no, no, okay. Let’s put the phone down, let’s, yeah.” She takes it from my hand and locks the screen. “Let’s give her some time to get back to you.”

“Does she live nearby? Let’s go over!”

“You ever seen The Banshees of Inisherin? It’s like that. I don’t think she’d chop all her fingers off if you show up, but nevertheless.”