“Lila?” Sean looked legitimately confused. He hadn’t changed all that much since she’d last seen him, although he had put on some muscle weight and his acne had cleared up.

“Hello, Sean.”

“This is…Well, ‘a surprise’ doesn’t quite seem to cut it.”

“I’m sorry for dropping in unexpected like this.” It was a sentiment that Lila had planned to express even if she didn’t mean it—which she now did. “This is going to sound strange, but I was wondering if I could talk to you.”

“Sure. I have an office back here.”

As he led her through the house, she took in not only the size but the simple pleasantness of the home. She had been in nice houses before, but not one owned by someone her own age.

The office was bigger than her bedroom back at the apartment, and held a drafting table and a desk made of what she thought might be mahogany. Sean pointed at one of the two leather chairs in the room, and they sat down.

“I gotta tell ya, Lila. If you gave me a million guesses, I never would have thought that was you at the door.”

“And again, I’m sorry for not calling. My coming here was kind of a spur-of-the-moment thing. Is that your wife?”

“Mallory. Going on four years now.”

“And did I hear kids?”

“Bill and Kelly. Four and three. But I suspect you didn’t come all this way just to catch up.”

“No, I didn’t.”

Lila had planned a dozen ways to ease in to her questions, each determined by her read of Sean, but now she struggled to remember any of them. It all came down to one thing: What did he remember?

“The weekend before graduation I was at a party in Uptown. That’s the night that…” She watched Sean’s face fall, and she knew he understood which night she was talking about. “I’ve been trying to re-create what happened. I know it was a long time ago, but—”

“I’m sorry about what happened to you.”

“Thank you. What exactly do you know about…what happened to me?”

“Just what people said—and what the cops asked about.”

“You took a picture of John Aldrich holding my arm.”

“I remember. I gave it to the police after I heard what happened.”

“Why? I mean, what was it that made you feel like that picture was important?”

“I don’t know. I remember him treating you like that, and I…” Sean shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

“It’s important, Sean. My memory of that night is pretty much missing, so if there’s anything you can tell me about the party, I’d really appreciate it.”

Sean stood, closed the door to the office, and returned to his chair, his face tinged in melancholy. “I don’t know if you know…how I felt about you back then.”

Lila swallowed but didn’t answer.

“I had a bit of a crush on you.”

Lila felt her face go flush, and nodded. “I had my suspicions.”