The sun shone through the closed curtains, and Hope hated it. It felt like the sun shouldn’t shine anymore. Like it was laughing in her face anytime it cast light across her carpet. Like it was mocking her. 

She tried to ignore it for as long as she could, but it was persistent. Finally dragging herself out of bed, she tried to prepare herself for whatever was waiting downstairs. Everyone would be awake and probably not-so-patiently waiting for her to make an appearance. She wasn’t mentally prepared for the staring or the pitying eyes. 

But instead, she found MG and Landon at the dining room table, huddled over a sketchbook and a notepad. 

“What if the villain knows he’s coming?” Landon was saying. “So he loses the element of surprise? He’ll have to come up with something else.”

“No, come on. That’s, like, his one super power.” 

“I thought his super power was telekinesis.”

“Well, yeah, if you want to get technical.” MG shook his head. “He always has the element of surprise. It’s … tradition.”

“So let’s break tradition.”

Hope paused in the doorway, a smile crossing her face while no one could see her. It was nice to see everyone else still able to enjoy little things. It felt like lately they had been hiding that from her. Like it was too cruel to smile at something else when she was around. 

She couldn’t bear to interrupt them. The idea that she could ruin the good thing they had going on was enough to peddle her back in the opposite direction of the living room. Josie sat on the couch, her nose to her phone. She jumped a little when she realized Hope’s presence.

“Good morning.”

“Morning.” Hope pressed her lips into a flat line, some sort of sad attempt at a smile. She couldn’t exactly call it a good morning, but she wasn’t going to be a downer. Not today. “What are you up to?”

“Just waiting for Lizzie to finally wake up.” Josie nodded once, quickly. “And I’m … thinking.”

“About what?” Hope sat on the couch across from her. 

“Um …” Josie’s voice was getting higher and higher pitched as she considered telling Hope at all. “... getting back into dating.”

“Oh.” Hope’s eyebrows rose. She didn’t know Josie was considering it so soon after Penelope’s sudden death. “I think you should.”

“I’m obviously just on the rebound,” Josie said quickly. “I’m not looking for anything serious so soon after … what happened. Just someone outside of all of this to spend some time with.”

“Okay.” Hope nodded. “So who are you looking at now?”

Josie bit down on a smile, hurrying to adjust so Hope could see her phone screen. “I have it narrowed down to a couple options.”

Hope listened as Josie went on and on about the potential candidates for some fun . She dutifully looked at all the pictures and nodded like she was considering Josie’s pros and cons lists. She didn’t actually care, but it was making everyone so happy to pretend like she cared. 

“I think the reporter,” Hope said when they reached the end. “Definitely the reporter. What was her name?”

“Jade?” Josie scrunched her nose.

“Yes, Jade!” Hope nodded. “Jade seems like she’d be a good fit for you.”

“Should I send her a message?”

“Unless you’re planning on starting with a handwritten letter, I don’t think you have much of an option.”

“I could wait for her to send the first message.”

Hope rolled her eyes. “You could literally just say ‘hi.’”

“Ever the romantic poet, Hope.”

“This is Tinder, not Shakespeare.”

“Fine. ‘Hi’ it is.”