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‘Hello,’ he says.

‘Hey.’

‘What’s up?’

‘Where are you right now?’

‘I am sitting on my sister’s couch, alone, in the dark, watching a show I’ve never heard of before with the volume on five so that I don’t wake her children. Where are you?’

‘I’m hiding behind a tree in the dark.’

‘Why?’

‘Do you want to come over?’

‘To your house?’

‘Yeah.’

There’s a pause.

I pick up a twig, snap it in half.

‘Just to hang out or…?’ he asks.

‘Something like that.’

‘A sleepover?’

‘Yeah. I want to make sure you get some sleep.’ I am actually hoping he won’t be getting any sleep but I can’t say that.

‘What about Patrick? Is he still there?’

‘We’re not, um. We just broke up.’

I try to picture his face. Maybe he’s smiling. Or frowning. Maybe he’s as worried as I am that I’ve made an awful mistake. I used to do this all the time when we spoke on the phone, imagine what his expression might be.

‘Text me the address. I’m on my way,’ he says.

42

I WALK BACK to the house—Patrick, mercifully, has gone—and I find Hayley and Luke are sitting on the couch, clearly gossiping about me because they stop abruptly when they see me.

‘How was your walk?’ Hayley asks.

‘Good. I cleared my head. I’m feeling very zen. And, wow, I’m tired. You guys must be exhausted too.’

‘We were about to put on a movie,’ Hayley says.

‘Oh, to watch in bed?’

‘No, here.’

‘Don’t you think bed is so much cosier though?’

‘Ohhhhhh,’ Hayley says.

‘What?’