Still, Sage refused to leave Leelo’s side, insisting that they walk everywhere together, even to see Isola. Leelo felt like a traitor for wanting an hour or two to herself so she could sneak away, but she was worried sick for Jaren. He might be able to fill up his waterskins, but what was he going to eat? She told herself he was nearly a man, that he could take care of himself for a few days in her absence. But knowing that even if he was all right physically, he would think she’d abandoned him, made her throat ache with unshed tears. Because there was nothing she wanted more than to be with him.

On the afternoon of the third day, when Leelo thought she might actually explode if she didn’t get away from Sage and the house, she told her family she was going to visit Isola. And by some miracle, Sage didn’t offer to go with her.

Leelo raised a questioning brow. “Are you sure you’ll be all right here?” she asked, afraid to get her hopes up in case Sage changed her mind.

“Will I be all right?” Sage scoffed. “Believe it or not, I can take care of myself, Leelo.”

There was a strange relief in Sage’s gruff response. If she was well enough to be snarky, then she was at least a little better than she’d been the past two days. Leelo couldn’t get Sage to talk about Hollis. Saints knew she’d tried. But she also knew she would never make Sage talk about something she didn’t want to, and Leelo was worried that she was making things worse by bringing it up all the time. Sage had six months before the wedding; maybe she just preferred not to think about it till then.

Before leaving for Isola’s, Leelo went to check on her mother. She was out in the yard, weeding the little vegetable garden she tended in the summer. It had gotten rather unruly this year, considering how little Mama had felt up to the work, but today she looked healthier than Leelo had seen her in months.

“Heading to see Isola?” she asked as Leelo approached her. She tested a plump tomato in her fingers for ripeness, then plucked it from its vine and handed it to Leelo. “Wait just a few minutes, and I’ll put together a basket for her family.”

Leelo eyed the growing pile at her mother’s feet. Fiona was the kind of neighbor who never showed up at someone’s house empty-handed. She enjoyed giving people gifts, and as she always reminded Leelo, you never knew when you would be the one in need.