She paid for the girls’ ice cream, forgetting to order something for herself, and wondered if they’d be safer in here, where the lights were bright and unforgiving, or outside at the picnic tables, where the light was fading but the mosquitos were unforgiving. Outside, she decided, and she stationed them at a table while she continued to patrol the parking lot. There was a lot of traffic going by on Route 1 and any minute a black SUV could pull in.

In fact, here was one now. Her pulse picked up.

Oh, never mind, it wasn’t a scary man; it wasn’t a member of a lesser-known crime family. It was someone her own age. It was Caitlin.

“Hey, Alexa,” Caitlin said, hopping out of the SUV.

“Hey,” said Alexa. Caitlin was coming toward her, blocking her view of the parking lot, so she moved to peer around her.

“I’m glad I ran into you, actually,” said Caitlin.

“You are?” Alexa couldn’t help it, her heart took a little optimistic, nostalgic skip. The light was seriously going now, and it occurred to Alexa that any old person could come off the rail trail and through the small section of parking lot, toward the picnic tables, before being discovered. You didn’t have to arrive by car to Haley’s; you could come by bike or on foot. You could even come by train and walk over from the station. Now that she’d realized that, she wasn’t sure which way to face. Behind her, Morgan and Katie were giggling about something or other. A mosquito landed on Alexa’s arm and she slapped at it.

“Alexa,” Caitlin said. “I’m super sorry about what happened in March, that night at Destiny’s. That’s really what I wanted to get across to you at Popovers that day, but I didn’t. I messed up. I told you that thing about Tyler instead . . .” She looked down at her feet. She was wearing her Jack Rogers Palm Beach leather thong sandals in white; Alexa mostly approved, although personally she preferred the bone white.

Here Alexa found herself facing two roads: the high and the low. It was a tough choice—each road looked attractive in its own way—but eventually high won out.

“You know what, Caitlin? I’m sorry if I’ve been prickly or hard to be with or whatever. I’m sorry if I overreacted.” She took a deep breath and tried to put her complicated feelings into words. “But you and Destiny, your families are whole and complete, and they always have been. Mine’s been broken not once but twice. I don’t expect you to understand what that feels like. Honestly, I hope you never find out, or not for a long, long time. But you could have given me time to figure it out, you know? To figure out my own way to deal with it.”