It had felt like a heart attack, that first moment when Karen had laid eyes on Matt again. He'd been still dripping wet from the fountain and impossibly alive, not someone who looked so entirely like him but really, genuinely him, and her heart, seizing in her chest, had felt like it was in a vise. For a moment, she'd not been able to breathe, and while she hadn't passed out, it had been a near-run thing. In the end she'd cried, loud enough to hear, although she couldn't have begun to articulate all of the smudged together reasons she had for weeping.

Seeing him again now is a little better, although she still feels dizzy and her heart is knocking against her ribcage like a bird. She's so relieved and angry and hurt and happy — Once, talking had been the easiest thing in the world for them. Now she has little idea of what to even say.

"Hey," she says, arms slipping across her middle, fingers clutching at her elbows in some attempt to steady herself. "Looks like you found a friend."