“I thought we sorted this out.”

“We did. I’m trying to explain. I’d love to come visit you, but I can’t.”

“Because of the stuff on Instagram?”

“No. Well, kind of. Lily invited me to come camping with her. She asked a long time ago, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to go. Then those pictures showed up, and I decided maybe I should. Just to get away from everything for a while. I already had a light schedule because I knew I was seeing you this weekend. I had my volunteer shifts covered.”

Sunny isn’t used to actual camping. I know this because she’s grown up doing the cottage thing. It’s big in Canada. People buy houses on lakes and drive through terrible traffic on the weekends so they can get shitfaced on a dock and hang out in the water and have campfires.

“So go camping with her for a few days and then come visit me.”

“I’ve already committed to it. I don’t want to back out.”

This doesn’t work with my plan. I should’ve asked before I came, but I wasn’t sure what this weekend was going to look like. I didn’t want to get ahead of myself, and now I’m screwed. Things start to wind back up for training soon. I have a bunch of endorsement stuff to do. I want to find a way to get her to ditch Lily and come with me instead.

“There’s no way you can cut it short?”

Her eyes drop, and she traces a circle around my kneecap. “Lily’s been supportive through this whole thing. I’m constantly bombarded with all the social media stuff.”

I tuck a few loose strands of hair behind her ear. “I’ll be better about that.”

“It’s not just you, Miller. It’s my brother, too. It’s not all bad, but sometimes I need a break from it. I try not to let it affect me, but it’s hard. Lily and I want some time away, get perspective and stuff.”

Lily isn’t my biggest fan. I’m sure she worked hard to get Sunny to agree to go. “Well, where are you going? I could meet you up there afterward. Can I drive?”

“It’s called Chapleau. It’s about eight hours by car, I think.”

“What about flying? Can I do that instead?”

“There isn’t an airport nearby. We could plan another visit for a few weeks from now, before my fall semester starts.”

No way am I leaving it that long. I need to see more of Sunny, not less. “I’ll drive out there after I’m done at the camp. We can spend a few days doing whatever. Then we can drive back together. I just need to know where it is.”

I’ll take whatever time I can get with Sunny, even if it means having to deal with her bitchy bestie. That chick isn’t going away, so I’ll have to find a way to get her to like me.

“That might be an issue, too. We won’t have an actual campsite or anything. It’s, like, out in the wilderness. I’m not sure how great my reception will be while I’m there.”

“Everywhere has reception. Even the rain forest.” Okay, so that’s not true, but this is Canada. Everyone should be able to use a cell phone, even in the damn forest.

“It’s really far north. People don’t do the cell phone thing out there. It’s all real landlines and stuff. That’s the whole point of getting back to nature, Miller. We’re going to put up tents in the middle of nowhere.”

Having no line of communication with Sunny isn’t ideal. I was without a phone for less than twenty-four hours and look how that blew up in my face. Sunny alone with Lily for a week could undo the last twenty-four hours.

“So how will I let you know when I’m on my way?”

“We’ll probably go into town for food and stuff every few days. There’s one about half an hour away, I think. Maybe we can touch base then? I’m sorry, Miller. I’ve been thinking about backing out since I woke up this morning, but Lily thinks it’ll be good for my soul, and so does Alex. I kinda have to agree with them.” She’s doing that thing with her hair again, wrapping it around her finger and brushing it over her lips.

Fucking Waters and Lily. They must be colluding. This is obviously a sabotage. Where the hell is Vi in all of this? She’s supposed to be backing me up. I need to have a chat with her. It occurs to me that Sunny’s directionally challenged. Driving out into the middle of the Canadian wilderness to go commune with nature is all well and good, as long as she has someone else to navigate. I have no clue how adept Lily is when it comes to this kind of thing.

“So it’s you and Lily going? Who’s going to drive? What car are you taking? Does she go camping a lot?”

“Lily goes camping all the time with her boyfriend. She was in Girl Guides all the way to Pathfinders.”

I have no idea what that is, but it sounds like it might be like Boy Scouts for girls in Canada. “So her boyfriend’s coming, too?”

Sunny traces a vein in my forearm to my wrist, then follows the line from the center of my palm to the space between my thumb and index finger. “There’s a group of us.”

“That’s good. You can all take turns driving. Who else is going?” Lily is the only friend of Sunny’s I’ve met so far.

“Lily’s boyfriend, Benji. You haven’t met him yet, and then there’s Kale.”

Benji sounds like it should be a dog’s name. “Kale? Is that a guy or a girl?”

“Kale’s a guy.”

“And his name is Kale? Like the vegetable?”