“Of course. Thank you,” I whispered, not wanting to hang up, but knowing I had to.

As I sat outside on my plastic chair, I wondered what to do for the rest of the evening. I debated sightseeing, taking a drive up the coast or down to Portland, but with everything weighing on my mind, playing tourist felt ridiculous. I still hadn’t decided what to do when I saw Fiona walking to the room a few doors down, a stack of folded towels in her arms. She waved at me as she knocked on the door, and once she’d delivered the laundry, came over.

“Hey, Lily. How’s everything?”

I was going to reply everything was great, but couldn’t get my mouth to utter the lie, and so instead I said, “I’m supposed to see Ash tomorrow and I don’t know how to deal with it.” I looked up at her and wrinkled my nose. “Oh, you meant the room, didn’t you?”

She shook her head. “No, I didn’t. I meant you.”

“I don’t know how I am. This whole situation is so...weird. I went to see Ash at the house, but he was out and after talking to Maya I’m not sure I want to go back.”

“Maya’s always been very...intense when it comes to her brother, he must have mentioned that,” she said, her words and delivery cautious.

I’d actually meant I might not want to return to the house because of what I’d discovered about her sister and Kate, but while Fiona’s interpretation of my words was different, it wasn’t entirely wrong, either.

“Intense?” I said. “You mean protective?”

“Sure, that, too.” She hesitated again before saying, “I’m sure he told you she had a major crush on him when they first met.”

“Oh, yeah, sure.” I tried to keep my voice light so she wouldn’t realize I didn’t have the slightest idea, or that it sounded a little creepy. “But at that age, I mean, he was...?”

“Fifteen. She was twelve. Everybody knew from the start, but Maya thought it wasn’t obvious. Did he tell you about the notebook?”

“Uh, I don’t think so.”

“She carried it with her everywhere, used to scribble in it incessantly, like a journal, I suppose. Anyway, she dropped it on the bus. Apparently, one of the high-school mean girls found it, you know the type.”

“Too well, unfortunately.”

“Yeah, well, this girl, Sydney, passes the notebook around and everyone’s in hysterics because it’s covered in hearts and scribbles of ‘Maya and Ash forever.’ They called her a—” she lowered her voice to a whisper “—brotherfucker. It went on for months and months. Ash didn’t know for ages. Celine didn’t want to be the one to tell him.”

“That must’ve been horrible for Maya.”