I mind. Today I really do mind. “Of course not.” She rubbed her eyes and tried to rally her spirits. Oh God, I am so not up for this. “How’s it going?”

“Fine, good … yeah. We’re, uh, good.” She quickly climbed the rest of the stairs and then, as Hope, Julia, and Colleen followed, stood off to the side, wrapped her ponytail around her wrist, and glanced around searchingly, as if the right words were around here somewhere and she just had to track them down to know what to say. It was a strange look for Ran Kita.

“That’s good,” Maggie murmured lamely. She didn’t know what to say, either.

The four girls stood in a huddle on the opposite side of the room, close to the stairs, so that their heads didn’t hit the angled ceiling. They smiled stiffly. Maggie smiled stiffly back.

Linnie glanced at Maggie, her eyebrows raised.

“Oh. This is Linnie.” Maggie introduced the girls, as well, and they exchanged greetings.

Another lull followed. Maggie checked an impulse to groan. This was why she’d created Marge. Marge didn’t have a past that made chatty girls quiet and uncomfortable.

Hope gave her shaved head a scrub. “Nice room.”

“Thanks,” Maggie said.

“Great view,” Colleen said. “Of the lake, I mean. Over there.” She pointed toward the windows behind Maggie’s and Linnie’s heads. Then, as if realizing how unnecessary it was to direct everyone’s attention to the lake’s location, she snatched back her hand, tucked it into her armpit, and laughed—a sickly hahaha.

Julia sucked in her lips.

Maggie sat up taller against the headboard and hugged her legs to her chest. “You guys want to sit?” They looked like prisoners facing a firing squad.

Linnie drew up her legs, too. “There’s plenty of room.”

“Thanks.” Ran swung her arms and sidled closer. Gingerly, she perched on the edge of the bed. Without looking directly at Maggie, she said, “We’ve missed you at book club.”

“Oh, yeah, well…” Maggie pleated the top of the flat sheet. “It’s been kind of … hectic here. Sorry.”

Hope sat heavily next to Ran. She slouched forward and clasped her hands.

Julia and Colleen sat cross-legged on the floor.

Julia tucked her hair behind her ears. “We hated to think you were avoiding us.”

Colleen nodded. “And we felt really bad, learning what we did about you when we googled your name.”

Hope gave her knee a small kick.

Colleen frowned and whispered, “What?”

“I wasn’t really avoiding you,” Maggie said. Only this. This weirdness. “I just didn’t want to talk about … you know.” She shrugged.

“I don’t blame you.” Ran twisted the ponytail into a tight coil. “You shouldn’t feel like you have to.”

“If you don’t want to,” Julia said.