"Hey, Ellie! I, uh, don't suppose the wild break-in rumours that are pinging around all my group chats have anything to do with you, do they?" A yawn interrupted Robin's voice, and he muttered an apology as his words became coherent again. "Nat was so right. I shouldn't have stayed up to wait for you. I've been dead on my feet all morning."

    Taking advantage of the distance between their phones, Elise smiled in amusement at her roommate's exhaustion. She had barely slept last night either, and the clear late morning light warming the kitchen's cosy wooden walls did little for her alertness. "Luckily for you, Natalie's the cutest sleep-deprived zombie, so she won't hold it against you," she said, and Robin's audible confusion evoked a laugh from her lips. She peered out of the kitchen window at the open boathouse shutter, the dazzling red and violet strokes of Cadence's sleeve tattoo dancing in the daylight. "Sorry I didn't get back to you last night. Things at uni got crazy on our way out, and they only got wilder when we got back. Me and Cade...I don't even know what's going on with us anymore."

    A murmur of strained patience worked its way down the line, and the sound of Robin's old desk chair rattling over the floor shrieked into Elise's ear. "Like I told you, Ellie, you can't expect everything to go perfectly just because you want it to – especially not with someone like her." As he detected the slight vitriolic twang that had slipped into his tone, Robin cleared his throat and reorganised his thoughts. "Look, whatever she's said, or done, or asked you to do –"

    "We had sex, Robin." Elise shut her eyes as she spoke, racked with both disbelief at the truth in her words and in anticipation of her roommate's reaction. "We had sex and I told her I loved her."

    "Oh. Right." Pockets rustled beneath Robin's voice. After the click of a closing door, he returned to the call, his tone dampened. "How are you feeling about all that?"

    Perched on the kitchen counter, Elise hid her face behind her hand and aired the tense breaths that dwelled in her lungs. "About the sex? It's still not sunk in, really," she said with a nervous laugh, glancing over her shoulder and blushing as Cadence breezed through changing her SUV's tyres. "As for the other thing, she was fine with me saying it, but...she didn't say it back."

    With a huff of uncertainty, Robin tapped his fingers against his handset. "You have a better read on her than I do, Ellie," he began, the enthusiasm sapped from his syllables. "I know you probably imagined this big, amazing romance-novel moment where she tells you she loves you too, but we both know it doesn't really happen like that. People show love in lots of different ways, and that doesn't make any of them less valid."

    Elise raised her eyebrows and took a deep breath. "Gosh, Robin. When did you get so insightful about love?" she asked, groaning as she replayed his words in her mind. "You'd better not start charging for advice any time soon. I think I'd be emptying my bank account as soon as I got paid."

    "I'd keep all my consultations with you free of charge, don't you worry," her roommate said as he let out a chuckle. After a moment, Robin broke the silence. "Though I'm not just good for lectures. At least I hope not, because I was wondering if you wanted to go out tonight."

    "Tonight?" Elise repeated, the notion of a time beyond her immediate future knotting her thoughts into a jumbled mess. "What did you have in mind?"

    "Well, there's a Studio Ghibli symphonic concert over in Weyscombe if you're interested," Robin said with a shot of awkward nerves bolting through his words. "I figured it might be a prime chance for us to geek out together. You can totally say no if it's not your thing, though."

    According to the kitchen clock opposite Elise, Florence would be due back home any minute. Despite dwelling on it all morning, Elise had gained no insight into whether the spark between her and Cadence was love, lust, or a solution of too many reactive elements to name. What was apparent was that their freedom together in the cabin was over, taking any opportunities to figure her feelings out with it. It was time to part from her girl's side.

    Elise fiddled with the hem of her skirt as the clock's second hand made its way around the dial. "Sounds like exactly my thing," she said, burying her disappointment at having to leave Cadence, however briefly. "I'd love to check it out with you. It'll be nice to chill for a while, and I definitely need a break from all the drama that keeps finding me."

    "Why do you think we're going all the way to another city? Just be thankful I'm not asking you to pick a fake name," Robin quipped, his relief evident in his long, cheery laugh. "I should get back to my coursework now, I guess. Don't suppose you want to spend the next hour listening to the presentation for it I'm working on? It's so interesting."

    "Your sarcasm stopped fooling me long ago, Dr Pawley," Elise replied with feigned disapproval. "Try to get through it for me, okay? We'll make up for how much of a drag it is when we're obsessing over adorable film scores tonight, I promise."

    "You bet we will! See you later, Ellie."

    As soon as the call ended, the kitchen door snapped open and startled Elise from her bittersweet contemplations. "Hey, killer. Check this out," Cadence called as she waltzed through the entrance, spotting Elise's fingers clinging to the counter's edge in a desperate effort to stop herself slipping off. Striding in front of her friend, Cadence caught Elise by the waist and eased her back to the wall. "Woah, you good? Been hitting the booze too hard?"

    "With Florence coming back, I'm not sure I could hit it hard enough," Elise said, setting her hands on Cadence's bare shoulders with a satisfied smile. "But no, I'm alright. You just caught me daydreaming."

    "Cosy-cute writer daydreams, or thirsty, kinky, totally depraved day-wet-dreams?" Cadence asked as she flicked the hair from Elise's face. She pulled herself close to Elise's face, leaving no more than a millimetre of space between the girl's skin and her parted lips. "I'd be down to hear about either, you know."

    "Sorry, rockstar, but a good writer never spoils their big reveals," Elise answered with a playful finger planted on Cadence's lips. The urge to thrust herself into Cadence's comforting hold burned through her body, yet she scraped just enough self-control together to slip past her girl's side. "And we should be concentrating on Florence right now anyway. What's the plan for when she gets here?"

    Cadence cast her eyes to the ceiling and rubbed at the front of her neck. "I know you love your plans, but Flo's a loose cannon at the best of times. We're gonna have to play this by ear," she said, then clapped her hands together and dove into her back pocket. With an eager grin, she produced a chunky bronze key, its familiar shape glittering in the sunlight. "But what I can do is give you this. Come on, take a peek!"

    Resting a surprised palm on her chest, Elise took the key and studied it in the light. "Is this...a key to the cabin?" she asked, the metal implement weighing heavily in her hand. "Are you sure?"

    "Only as long as you'll keep it, killer," Cadence said, her wink failing to hide her shaken nerves. "Yes, Ellie, I want you to have it. It's been a blast having you around these past few days, and I don't want to lose that just because the grump's back. So...if you ever want to drop by, now you can. Pretty sweet, right?"

    A gasp racked Elise's chest, failing to bring any air to soothe her quaking lungs. "It's better than sweet, Cade," Elise replied as she wrapped her fingers around the key. The warm metal pressed against her palm, engraining the object's smooth, sizeable shape into her skin. "This is huge! I don't even know what to say."

    "I think 'thanks' would be a good start." Staring into Elise's eyes, Cadence smiled and fiddled with the stray locks of hair by the girl's face. Her hazel eyes sparkled with their usual shocking life, yet a delicate mist blurred across the fine lines of her irises. "And because I know you'll be overthinking it later – no, I'm not doing this just because we hooked up last night. I was going to give you this with your picture, but then we got a little lost down each other's pants."

    "How romantic." Elise snorted as she swatted her girl's hand away with a smirk. "Thanks, Cade. I really appreciate it."

    Before Cadence could fire off her retort, a flock of blackbirds and ducks snapped through the air in a frenzy of flapping wings. Elise ripped the kitchen door open and stared at the scene in the sky, her ears catching the waning waves of a distant grunt beneath the chaos. The birds soared beyond the treeline as the mechanical din swelled, soon growing loud enough to divert Elise's attention to the silver sports car tearing down the lakeside road to the cabin.

    Cadence loitered in the entryway, one boot dangling off the doorstep. "That's sure not what I had in mind when they said they'd arranged alternative transport," she said as the vehicle weaved its way around the road's many potholes. "Arin might be the only person Flo ever wants to see less than me."

    A sharp breath left Elise's lips. "Arin? Why would Florence's agent bring her back?"

    As he exited his car, Arin's expression was little more than a blank slate. He helped Florence out of the passenger seat with well-rehearsed cordiality, his fiery enthusiasm immune to the cold water the author's bitter response poured over it. "Aha! Just the daring duo I wanted to see," he called while fiddling with his plum-purple tie as he and Florence approached the cabin. "Kid, I need to straighten some things out with you. And you, punk, had better take Florence off me ASAP – her body might be better, but her mood's swinging like crazy. She's threatened to string me up by my tie three times already. Can you believe her? This is one of my favourites!"

    Taking a wooden cane from its resting place by the back door, Cadence rolled her eyes and stepped out into the open. "Sounds like regular ol' Flo to me, dude," she scoffed as her mother worked her way across the rough gravel-coated ground. With a forced smile, she handed her mother the cane and stepped aside, clearing Florence's path to the back door. "Welcome back to the Grump Space. You're just in time – we were almost about to crack a smile without you around!"

    "Very funny," Florence said, snapping her stick against the kitchen floor to command her daughter's attention. "Now shut your trap and get me some tea, girl. I'm parched, and that pesky agent of mine didn't think to bring anything for the ride over. And his stupid bloody car has shaken my knees up like something not right..."

    A shockwave disturbed the joy in Cadence's expression. "Still a ray of sunshine like always," she muttered, paying Elise a winking nod before following her mother into the cabin. "I'll get the bitchiness out of her system while you two have your li'l pow-wow. Don't have too much fun without me, yeah?"

    The playful wave that Cadence left behind her fluttered through Elise's heart, snaring her breath in her throat as if her girl's fingers had trailed through her hair. Bowling through her dreamy memories of the night before, Arin's clicking tongue yanked her straight back to reality. "The docs filled me in about Florence's condition when I went to pick her up," he began as he motioned for Elise to follow his ambling steps towards the lakeside. "Mixed dementia, they were sizing her up for. Science stuff was never my forte, but even I know that's bad news."

    "It's so messed-up. I can't imagine what Florence must be thinking, having to face it for real," Elise said, shreds of water swilling in the corners of her trembling eyes. With dabbing fingers, she cleared the mist from her vision enough to see that, despite his downbeat tone, Arin's composure had not ebbed by a single particle. "Don't you feel bad for her? For Cade, who has to take care of her mum all by herself?"

    "Of course I do! I'm not heartless or eyeless, kid. I've seen this thing coming for months now, just like everybody else," Arin answered with a series of muffled grumbles dragging along after his words. He shoved his hands into his suit trouser pockets, struck a stray stone from the bank into the lake, and watched the ripples churn through the still water. "Well, everybody except the publishing house, that is. Actually, that's what I wanted to catch you up on."

    Elise steeled her gaze to meet the side of Arin's face. "It's nice of you to want to keep me informed, really," she said, her improvised armour collapsing as quickly as she had constructed it. "But I don't think I'm needed here anymore. With Flo's diagnosis, the publisher can't still expect her to put out another book, surely?"

    Bitter barbs lined the notes of Arin's feigned laugh. "Nice to see that working with Florence hasn't killed your optimism." Fiddling with the collar of his crisp white shirt, he met Elise's eye, a cool breeze kicking up around them. "Until the docs are ready to put keyboard to printer paper on the whole dementia thing, the house isn't hearing it. They're not jeopardising her brand until the diagnosis is confirmed beyond doubt."

    "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Elise cried, startling the few birds still perched in the trees from their roosts. "What more do they want? Haven't they seen her, listened to her, watched her struggle at all? Haven't you told them how rough she's got it? They can't seriously be doing this to her!"

    "Sorry, kid." As he released a defeated sigh, Arin unwrapped a stick of chewing gum from his jacket pocket and tossed it into his mouth. "I tell them every chance I get, but suits like them only have empathy for their bottom line, you get me?"

    Folding her arms, Elise sharpened her stare. "No. I don't get you. And I don't get how the publishing house can be okay with torturing Florence like this, all just to wring one more book out of her."

    A silence settled between them, though the distinct glaze of reflection coated Arin's eyes. "You know, you sound just like that friend of hers right now," he said suddenly, catching Elise off-guard in her impatient pacing. "Drake, that was him. James Drake, the big crime thriller guy. From the moment Florence's marbles started rolling loose, he started sounding off with the publishers over her contract situation."

    "Really? I knew they were friends, but..." Elise looked into the water by her feet, picturing her seminar leader's hardening expression during their professional talks. With his well-honed cordial manner, even the vague outline of James growing angry unsettled her. "Whenever I talk to James, he seems so...resigned to how the industry works. He's never seemed willing to put up that much of a fight to change anything."

    "You'd better believe he was willing back then." A stretch of sombre cloud drifted into the sunlight, drenching the lakeside with a thick gloom. Arin shuddered as the chilling darkness poured over him, and he rubbed his uncovered hands together. "For months straight, he used to pester my emails, phone, office, even my home. He was always begging me to get Florence off the hook, like I was the only person overseeing her contract situation. Then one day, he just went silent. Haven't heard a peep from him in a good while."

    "I never knew he felt so strongly about it," Elise said, gripping her arms against the oncoming cold. "What made him stop?"

    Arin shrugged and tugged his jacket around his body. "Beats me, kid. It had gone on for so long, me and the publishers thought he'd never give in. I almost miss the guy's furious voice messages, honestly." Hiding his hands in his pockets, he watched the sway of the trees across the water. A thin smile crossed his lips, and he chuckled at the train of thought rolling through his mind. "It's funny. Right after he shut up, Florence submitted a new work for editing. I guess he finally woke up to reality."

    "I don't know. Even if James did get sick of trying to tear up Florence's contract, he must have known that she wasn't going to get any better. And he clearly wanted to try and help..." Every word Elise spoke cast greater clarity on a side of her seminar leader she had never considered could exist. Given the apparent parallels between herself with Natalie and James with Florence, it was no wonder he took such strict action to halt her fight for her friend. "But then, he does say the best way to help sometimes is to listen. Maybe Florence found out and asked him to stop."

    "Don't know. Don't care. Whatever stops people buzzing in my damn ear, it's fine by me," Arin said as he glanced at his hefty silver wristwatch. "Look, kid, I've got places to be and people to tolerate. Just keep at it with Florence until the docs feel like doing their jobs, got it? You got it."

    The man disappeared into his car without waiting for a response, leaving Elise stranded in the cold, sinking waterside air. She rubbed away the frigid chills that gripped her arms and made her way to the warmth of the cabin, shutting out the growl of the stirring car. "Cade? Florence?" she called out as she noticed the stray cup of dark tea on the kitchen counter.

    "Over here, in the grump cave," Cadence answered from her mother's study. Behind the old wooden door, the girl wrestled with Florence's shoes with a set of exhausted, threadbare slippers waiting at her side. "You're the one with the nimble fingers, killer. Come undo these boy scout knots before I whip the knife out and cut Flo's gross hooves loose."

    "Should've expected as much from a layabout, ham-fisted grease monkey," Florence sniped from her chair, and she swiped her keen gaze towards Elise as the girl set the mug of tea down and kneeled at her side. "You're still scurrying about here, are you?"

    Despite Cadence's complaints, the laces of Florence's aged leather shoes came undone at Elise's touch without a fight. Elise removed the shoes and raised an eyebrow at their sturdy, inflexible soles. "As Cadence's friend, I am," she said as she shoved the shoes aside and placed the slippers on the author's feet. "Though I'm still hoping you'll let me help you get your writing done. That is what you're paying me for, after all."

    "I'm paying you, am I? Trust Arin to keep that from me." With an exaggerated flap of her arms, Florence returned her blanket to its customary position over her lap. The blood stains had been washed out of the fabric, yet regret still tinged her heavy eyes as she regarded the material. "Melody never needed paying. She was an honest lass, something the pair of you wouldn't know the first thing about."

    Flags of crimson anger rose high in Cadence's face. "I don't need telling how amazing Mel is, alright?" she said through gritted teeth, only relaxing her jaw when an impish spark struck in her eye. "She's so amazing, she's ditched writing thanks to you."

    Florence's irritated mask slipped, and the face that lay behind it paled with raw, pained confusion. "Eh? Stopped writing, has she? Really?" she asked as she rocked in her chair. "Odd. She never said nought like that to me when I saw her just a few weeks ago."

    A deep despair tangled itself in Elise's heartstrings, her own words leaving a bitterer taste in her mouth than anything the author had levelled at her. "Florence, Melody hasn't been here in a long time," she uttered, struggling to raise her voice beyond an awkward whisper. "And she probably won't be back ever again. She's...moved on."

    "Cheeky thing! Who are you to try and tell me who I've spoken to when?" As she snapped, Florence beat her cane off the floor to fill the room with the crack of wood on wood. "I'll have you know, I saw Melody just a few weeks ago. It was while I was waiting to do that bloody stupid bookshop talk – right before you started lurking round here, in fact, girl."

    "Wait, you actually saw Mel?" Cadence asked, her outburst catching in her choked throat. "Why the hell didn't you say anything to me?"

    "Watch your tongue, sprog. Melody didn't want me saying nothing to you, and some of us actually respect others' wishes." After a sip of lukewarm tea, Florence rubbed her eyes and sighed. "I won't go into specifics, 'course. But she told me she was working on something new, and she didn't feel like discussing it like we used to. She wanted to publish it herself, she said. The lass has real guts."

    Casting her mind back to the talk, Elise tried to remember seeing a girl that resembled Melody. Only the faces of Tegan and her gaggle of friends surfaced, and she could not drown them back in her memory's pond quickly enough. "Where did you meet her?" she asked, helping the author set her mug down on her side table. "Did she go to your talk?"

    Florence snorted and waved Elise's hand away from her drink, suddenly in sprightly humour. "I should hope not, that was a bloody awful slog," she cackled with the closest expression to a smile Elise had witnessed on her face. "No, I spotted her in the café by that bloody bookshop. She goes there to write during her free days. You young things can only work if there's a racket nearby, somehow."

    With a furrowed brow, Elise picked Cadence's phone from her pocket, resisting the urge to let her hand linger on her friend's waist for longer than necessary. One click of the side button revealed a crack along the device's screen, yet the date was untouched. "It's Wednesday today, and the talk was on a Wednesday too."

    Fierce fires blazed in the amber rings of Cadence's eyes. "We're going there right now. We have to warn her about Matt!" she cried as she swiped her phone from Elise's grasp and stormed out of the study.

    "Cade, wait!" Elise cried as she turned back to check on Florence. The author took the book on her table and cracked it open, devoting her attention to its contents. Stranded, Elise left the study and caught up with her friend at the back door. "This isn't a good idea. Whatever you think, Melody wasn't happy to see us at the party, and –"

    "Save it, Ellie." Cadence spun her car key around her finger as she lingered in the doorway. Against the cheerful calico cat on her keyring, her impatient determination struck Elise's ears with aggressive force. "I don't care if she's not your type, alright? I'm going to prove to Mel that I'm not the shitty friend Matt's made her think I am. I have to prove it to her, with or without you!"

    It was not the first time Cadence had forced the ultimatum, yet the hot pain that seared through Elise's chest suggested otherwise. Looking into her girl's eyes, it became clear that the words on Elise's tongue would not change no matter how much she wanted them to. "I'll go get my bag."