What he knew was that no words could fix what had broken inside Aidy. It was Nick I was so afraid to hurt, and he turned out to be the only one who could stand what I’d done.

Aidy laughed at his silence and turned back to me. “I should be honest. Not that it matters. It’s clearly not something you value.” She swished around her cup. It was still the first drink Harrison gave her. And it was full. She was not drunk, I realized. She wasn’t even buzzed.

She was angry.

“When I was in your room the other day, I saw a receipt on top of one of the piles on your floor. The product names were abbreviated, so I didn’t really know what everything stood for,” she said. “I didn’t think anything of it until I opened up that box. Suddenly I knew what everything stood for. And here we are.” Her face kept shutting down then surging back to life, a trick candle that kept on well past the point of being any fun.

Nick squeezed my hand three times, a new code I didn’t know, but understood all the same. Me and us and Marley.

“Oh great, another thing I didn’t miss, the little telepathy twins over here, not talking out loud because they’re having a great little chat in their secret little world,” Aidy said. Each time, the word little hit the hardest, like a cymbal clash. She meant Nick and me, but laughed when she realized there were actual twins in the room. “Sorry, Campbells. I’m sure you two are having some great conversation, but these two”—she glared at us—“have always been up to no good. Since I’m a nice sister, Olivia, I let you think it was all Thing Two’s fault over here. But it’s the both of you, always insisting on being so damn different every single second. A tree was never just a tree with you guys. It was a magical fortress. And yeah, that was cute for a while, but you two never stopped trying to make things more than what they are.” She narrowed her eyes. “You made this into an adventure, as if that’s what we all need to heal. Finally, the closure I’ve always wanted! I get to wonder if my best friend was so lost in her own life that she made you two shoot her point-blank in her parents’ bedroom!”

The Olivia of days, even hours before, would’ve been able to stop Aidy. Maybe with the perfect rebuttal or a well-timed redirection. But I didn’t have her. I couldn’t fight anymore.