“Stay here.”
She nodded.
I walked outside alone.
And for once, Claire didn’t follow me.
But halfway across the library courtyard, another memory surfaced.
Nora snapping a book shut.
Me furious.
My own childish voice saying:
“Fine. Finish it yourself.”
I stopped walking.
Because suddenly I needed to know whether those had been the final words I’d ever said to her.
I texted Claire.
“Can you come outside?”
She appeared about a minute later but stopped several feet away from me.
“I remembered something.”
Claire waited.
“I told Nora to finish the book herself.” I rubbed the edge of the photograph with my thumb. “Was that the last time I saw her?”
Claire slowly shook her head.
“I don’t know exactly what your last conversation was.”
Strangely, that answer helped more than false certainty would have.
