Page 79 of The Seven Year Slip

“But what if they were in love?”

“Then why wouldn’t she know that Analea’s dead?”

I listened to them argue back and forth, looking down at the long and loopy handwriting that belonged to a woman I’d only heard about in my aunt’s stories. A woman who had gone through much of the same thing that Iwan and I were currently navigating. My aunt had told me her side of the story, and I’d just assumed that Vera had disappeared and gone to live her life, but this letter proved otherwise. They’d still kept in touch, years later.

Why didn’t my aunt ever say so?

“Clementine?” Drew knocked her shoulder against mine, a little worried. “We’re almost to the window.”

I quickly put the letter away again. “Right, right, thanks.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I dunno,” I replied truthfully.

Fiona wove her arm through mine. “Well, whatever you choose, we’ll be with you.”

That meant a lot, and I squeezed her arm tightly.

When we stepped up in line, Miguel’s eyes instantly lit up. He threw his arms up and said, “Hey! Long time no see! So good you came back for more, eh, eh?” He asked with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

“Couldn’t stay away.”

Isa said, leaning out the window, “And who’re your friends?”

“Fiona and Drew.” I motioned to them, and they waved politely. “This is Miguel and Isa.”

“Pleasure,” Miguel said with a wave. “I love meeting new friends.”

“Lemon here told us a bit about you,” Isa agreed.

Drew and Fiona gave me a strange look. “Lemon?” Drew asked.

“A nickname,” I quickly replied. “Can I get a chicken fajita and...?” I looked to them for their orders, and they said what they wanted. “And a bottle of water.”

“No beer?” he asked.

The thought of it made me green. I was still feeling the effects of last night’s drinking. Iwan could absolutely drink me under the table. “Water is perfect.”

“Fine, fine, bottles are around the side in a cooler,” he said, and I began to take out my card to pay, but Drew waved her hand to shoo me off.

“I’ve got it.”

“But—”

“Seriously, our treat. Two more bottles of water, though.”

“Gotcha.” He nodded, and keyed it into his tablet. Drew finished paying as I went around to the side of the food truck where Miguel said the waters would be. There was a man sitting on the cooler.

I froze.

He quickly righted himself. Even with a baseball cap pulled low over his curls, I recognized the crescent-shaped birthmark on his collarbone between the open neck of his dark Henley.Oh. “James?” I asked.

His eyes widened. “Lemon?”

“What are you doing here?” I asked, because if Drew and Fiona saw him, they wouldimmediatelyassume that I took them here so that I could see him. And I was sure they’d never let me live that down.

He seemed perplexed. “They’re my friends! I hang out here sometimes.”

---