Page 73 of What We Got Wrong

“You brought me to the beach,” Liv said, her face scrunched up in confusion. “In Michigan…in November.”

“You have lived here for more than two years, and you haven’t even seen ONE of the Great Lakes.”

“My dear, sweet Quinn. I grew up in Chicago. My parents’ house is, like, forty minutes from the other side of this lake.”

“Sure, sure, sure. But you haven’t seen it from the good side,” Quinn replied, her lips quirked in a silly grin. “We’re going in.”

“It’s November.” This was apparently a major sticking point for Liv.

“I know, right? It’s so cold,” Quinn agreed, before jumping out of the car. “It’ll be great.”

She ran toward the water, toeing her shoes off halfway down the beach and shoving her socks inside. She was cuffing her jeans when Liv joined her.

“You’re a little wild.”

“You’re just figuring this out,” Quinn retorted, wiggling her eyebrows before looking pointedly at Liv’s feet. “Do you need me to reverse-Cinderella you?”

“Wild and ridiculous,” Liv huffed, but she followed Quinn’s lead, shedding her own shoes and socks, and they left their footwear in a pile and walked to the shore.

Quinn stomped into the water quickly, trying not to show Liv how frigid it was. “This is delightful.”

Liv joined her begrudgingly, gasping when the freezing water splashed up to her ankles. They walked a handful of paces before she spoke. “This is awful.”

“I don’t know what I was thinking,” Quinn admitted, bumping her hip into Liv’s.

Still, they slowly continued their walk along the beach. It was peaceful, the sky filled with thick gray clouds, the gentle waves slapping against the sand. The seagulls mostly let them be, and there were boats in the distance, but in a very real way it felt like they were the only two people on earth.

When they got to a rocky section of the lake, they pivoted, returning the way they’d come. Under the pretense of holding her steady, Quinn reached for Liv, and they walked the rest of the way back arm in arm.

Quinn plopped to the ground next to their shoes, motioning for Liv to join her. She sat, settling into the sand and moving so that their bodies just barely touched, present but not pressing.

“Thank you,” Liv said simply.

“Do you want to talk about her?” Quinn asked, still worried that the question would come out clumsy.

Liv was quiet for a while, before she cleared her throat and spoke. “We used to vacation to the beach a lot when I was a kid. Ronnie would bring her friends, and I would follow them around like a puppy, absolutely obsessed.”

“So, I didn’t turn you gay? That’s a relief,” Quinn said, and Liv shoved her shoulder.

“She would have liked you a lot, I think,” Liv said, and Quinn’s heart swelled. “She had a soft spot for goofballs.”

“Sounds like she had great taste.” Liv was close enough that Quinn could keep her voice soft, solemn. “What else?”

Liv burrowed her face into Quinn’s neck. “I feel like…so much of her memory has gotten tied up in everything with my parents. How crazy they’ve become. How afraid. But…I miss her every day.”

“Of course you do.”

“I don’t even know if she would like me now,” Liv continued, and Quinn had to stop herself from interjecting, from waving off her concern. “She was just so full of life. She was beyond out of control at the end, but she still always tried to make time for me, you know? And she would hate that I’m following such a rigid plan… I feel like she would just think I’m so boring.”

The silence stretched on, and Quinn got the sense that Liv wasn’t able to continue the conversation. She knew they’d barely scratched the surface of Liv’s feelings about her sister. About Ronnie’s life, her death. But Quinn was grateful for even this tiny glimpse into what Liv had been going through.

“Is it okay if I say something?” Quinn asked, after the quiet had become too much for her to bear. Liv tilted her head back to nod, blinking up at Quinn with wide, teary eyes. “You are doing what you need to do to survive. And you moved to a different state. You came to a school where you didn’t know anyone. You’re having a torrid affair with a very handsome person. You’re on an adventure right this second! You are absolutely not boring.”

“A torrid affair,” Liv scoffed, though the smile had crept back onto her face and she leaned even further into Quinn. “You’re too much.”

They didn’t usually allow themselves to touch out in public, and it wasn’t that big of a deal. When they were on campus, they were surrounded by people who knew them, even if just casual acquaintances. It was…well, it’s not that it was easy, to keep their hands off each other, but easy-ish. Especially given the vast amount of time they spent one on one in their apartment.

But here, away from all of that, Quinn didn’t fight the urge to wrap her arm around Liv’s shoulders. “Plus, I don’t know if it means anything. But I’m a really great big sister. Like, I have so many references. And I think you’re fucking amazing.”