She slowed her chewing to a more respectable pace, fixed her eyes on me, and smiled as she dabbed at her mouth with her napkin. In her best placating mother voice, she replied, “Serena, honey, you can visit Parker anytime you want. Excuse me, please.” Then she headed to the restroom.

I so didn’t need Mom coming all undone here and now, not when I was trying to get Doc to actually want to date her. So she had some guy on the sly? It didn’t mean she had to act all weirded out and rude with Doc.

Ever the gracious one, he pretended to be fascinated with the sailboats.

As I watched the bathroom door, I caught sight of the last two people in the world I’d wanted to see. Mr. and Mrs. Kitzler. Before I looked away, I couldn’t help but notice how frail Mrs. K. looked in her designer dress. How fragile. Like the whisper-weight silk could break her if she didn’t walk just right.

I turned away, following Doc’s lead and looking out the window at the glistening waters, resigning myself to the fact that the date was a bust and I should forget it. But another part of me knew I needed to say something to my mother. Confrontation just wasn’t something Mom and I did very well. It was more Kori’s style. The part of me that envied her more than anything, admired her for it. Wished I could be more like that.

“We’re more alike than you think.”

How many times had I replayed those words, enjoying the implication that little ol’ me was anything at all like someone so crazy brave.

Shared birthdays and faked hair color were about it, certainly not enough to warrant a friendship like we had. But now I’d never know. Never understand what she meant that day in eighth grade.

I looked across the lake at the beach where Kori had gone skinny-dipping, and then farther to the cutting rocks of the dam. Just remembering how it felt to stand on the crumbling ledge made my chair feel a little wobbly.

“Doc? Do you think Kori was a brave person?”

“Brave?”

“Yeah, you know, fearless?”

“Being brave doesn’t mean you have no fears. It’s having the ability to overcome your fears. So, yes, I think Kori was brave. But no, I wouldn’t go so far as to suspect she was fearless.”

I caught sight of Mom as she ducked outside. She was probably going to call her boy toy and tell him she would be late. “Excuse me.”

I weaved my way through the tables, passing the hostess stand as I left the restaurant.

Mom gasped as I walked up beside her under the restaurant’s deep green awning. “Serena!”