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"Basically, if he were givinga seat on one of the barstools The cleaner sar and bleach "He also wants h s I liked" I leaned forward and bit irl, I’d love to help you, but I don’t think walking you through how Ime fold laundry is really what he had in mind If you want to talk to the person who knew you best, you would need to talk to…" She paused and folded the rag, placing it over the faucet of the sink, setting her hands flat on the counter She looked out thelike she was reflecting on so

"Nikki?" I offered

"Who told you about her?" Nadine asked, refocusing onabout her being my best friend and a bad influence"

"She was much more than that," Nadine said "She was like a sister to you The two of you did everything together"

"Including run away?" I asked "Right?"

Nadine looked away thoughtfully and turned back to me "Gone after her? Maybe But never run away You wouldn’t leave Samuel and Tanner You wouldn’t leave me That I know" She tapped uy you want to talk to Besides Nikki, you tere tighter than the lid on a jar of pickles"

"I ot , I kind of yelled at him" Nadine shook her head and offered a s that boy wouldn’t forgive you for Go find him I’et girl, I gotta ood look was the devil hi to keep them clean"

Tanner only lived a block or two over Nadine pointed ht direction But just like I knehere the boat house was, e woht red lipstick answered the door and infor defeated, I o back inside I made my way out back to the abandoned houseboat I carried my shoes as roves when I spotted Tanner, sitting on the edge of the pier with his feet hanging off the edge of the dock He earing a plain white T-shirt and blue basketball shorts He appeared to be lost in concentration, focusing on his flip-flops that dangled off of his toes

"Hey," I said as I approached him "Where’s Sammy?"

He looked up and shielded his eyes from the sun "Hey He’s with randkid square dance" He laughed, but it fell flat, his s his eyes

"This seat taken?" I asked

"All yours," Tanner said, softly, scooting to the side to make room for me

I sat down next to him and looked off over the water, unsure of what to say, nervously fidgeting with my hands in my lap Thankfully, Tanner spoke first "This was kind of our place, you know We spent hours here fishing off the back of the boat or watching the storh When your dad told you it was a safety hazard and wanted to have it hauled away, you cried for a week"

"He doesn’t see just because it upset reed

"Then why is it still here?"

Tanner smiled "The senator doesn’t see ealities" He laughed and his bright brown eyes lit up "I wish you could remember the look on his face when you handed him the survey you printed out online When you pointed out that the houseboat wasn’t on his property, so technically wasn’t his to re to pass out Then when you informed him that you’d filed documents to declare it a historical landmark…I think it was the only tih He looked almost…proud"

"So the houseboat stayed," I said

"Yeah, he had the walls reinforced with steel piping so it wouldn’t fall down around us, but it stayed" He turned to facehis chin on his knee "Because of you"