“It doesn’t, really. But it’ll make you feel better.”

I don’t have the energy to argue with her. I barely have enough to wipe my face off and run the brush through my hair. But I eventually get the job done to her satisfaction.

She takes the cloth and the brush and returns them to the bathroom.

“Your call had me freaking out,” she says as she comes back into the room. “I broke every speed limit between here and Forest Falls.”

“I’m sorry.”

Val climbs across the bed and flops beside me. “Don’t be. That’s what best friends are for.”

I curl up next to her, saying a silent prayer of gratitude that I was able to get most of the story out over the phone so I don’t have to do it now.

“I think I’m cried out. I’ve cried all day, and I hate crying.”

She fiddles with my hair in much the same way I do Ethan’s. We lie quietly together on my bed until the shadows from the trees outside slide from the top of the wall to the middle.

“I think I love him,” I say sadly. “Loved him? Love him? Whatever.”

Val sucks in a deep breath. “I think he loves you too.”

I roll over to face her. “Are you out of your mind? Do you not see me here, caked in my own snot, because the man broke up with me?”

“You smell a little too.”

I hit her, making her laugh.

“This reaction—this one-eighty he just pulled—this is an emotional response to something, Palmer. He’s not a bad guy. He’s not evil.”

“Tell that to my heart.”

She frowns. “Think about it. He would never hurt you on purpose. You don’t believe that, do you?”

I consider her point. At any time before the last three hours, I would never have thought that Cole Beck would intentionally hurt me. But do I now? His words . . . his . . . torment.

“I’m sorry. Be angry with me. Make this my fault. This has nothing to do with you, and you did nothing wrong. This is not what I want, Palmer.”

I think about his face as he told me he was leaving and the pain I think I saw there. The hesitation when he arrived and the way he stood by my side as Jared called.

“No,” I say finally. “I don’t think he would. But he did. I’m hurting right now, and he knows that. He did that. On purpose.”

“And he’s hurting too. He has to be. You don’t flip a switch like that without a big prompt.” She turns onto her back and looks at the ceiling. “You didn’t fight or anything?”

I shake my head.