“Why would she delete them?” Becca spoke under her breath. It was exactly what Whitney was wondering. She had this sudden image of the three of them in Monterey last summer. Natalie had rented an Airbnb for the week, but her family could only stay for four days, so she offered the place to Whitney for the remaining three. Rarely did she allow Amelia to bring friends on vacations, mostly because Whitney couldn’t afford it. But this time it was essentially free, so Whitney let Amelia bring Becca. She figured it would give Amelia someone to do stuff with when Whitney wanted to spend the day lying on the beach and reading. Amelia and Whitney had always differed that way. For Whitney, vacation was a chance to unwind, rest. For Amelia, vacation was theme parks, swimming in the ocean, running from activity to activity.

Whitney was content to let Becca try to keep up with her on the Monterey trip. Her only concern was that she would be alone most of the time. But, actually, she wasn’t. The girls ended up spending most of each day at the beach with Whitney, only going off on their own a few times. The house was near Lover’s Point, so most mornings they trekked it down to the sand, and set up their towels. They’d read, talk, dip in the cold water when they got too warm. Then they’d head up to the little hamburger stand, grab lunch. Later in the afternoon, they’d pack up. Head down the street for ice cream.

Whitney recalled that Amelia got a horrible sunburn on their last day there. It was on the cooler side that day, so Amelia had forgotten to reapply her sunscreen. Whitney’s skin wasn’t fair like Amelia’s, so sometimes she’d forget to remind her. And usually, she didn’t need to. Being on swim team and spending much of her time near a pool, Amelia was normally really responsible about it. Then again, it was a lot warmer in Sacramento. There was no way she wouldn’t feel the warmth of the sun as it seeped into her skin.

None of them noticed Amelia’s sunburn until they’d returned to the Airbnb in the evening. But that was how sunburns were. You didn’t know you had one until it was too late. And then there was nothing you could do to fix it.

In Whitney’s experience, relationships were the exact same way.

“What happened between the two of you?” she asked Becca now.

“You’d have to ask her.”

Frustration burned through Whitney. “If I could do that, I wouldn’t be calling you, would I?”