16

The look on his face told me it had truly been a guess.

I was relieved to hear that he hadn’t looked me up.

“Yes,” I said. “You’re right.”

As he laughed, he gripped the edge of the table with both hands, and his head tilted back.

It was the most laid-back sound.

I wondered if I’d ever laugh that way again.

“My sister, Star, goes there,” he told me. “I know the campus well.”

“She’s getting her master’s?”

He shook his head. “Bachelor’s.”

She was much younger than him.

From my estimate, at least by ten years, which put Smith somewhere in his early thirties.

The same age as Dylan.

“So, you went to school in the Back Bay, and you work in the city. What do you do for fun, Alix?”

I met my best friend for happy hour several times a week.

I spent time with Dylan whenever he came home.

I dreamed about waking up to a sunny day.

“You’re going to laugh,” I said.

This was a question I was comfortable with.

He put his elbows on the table. “I won’t.”

“I’m from Maine. This small, quiet, quaint town in