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afternoon possibly think she, Meg, was pretty? Or was Lacey being nice?
    “Lacey means what she says,” Katie told Meg. “And she says
exactly
what she means.”
    Lacey sniffed haughtily and threw her suitcase to one side. “Are we all here?”
    “Even Dullas,” Chelsea said. “Kimbra brought her. We sent her off to pester somebody else.”
    “Who are Kimbra and Dullas?” Meg asked.
    “Kimbra is one of the administrators on staff here. She was actually a friend of Jenny Crawford’s. As for Dullas, well, you’ll meet her later.”
    Katie peered through the screen door. “Did Jeff bring you?” she asked Lacey.
    “Jeff is Lacey’s boyfriend,” Chelsea informed Meg. “They were both counselors at Jenny House last year.”
    “He couldn’t bring me,” Lacey said. “He got ajob working at an architectural firm. And since that’s his major, he thought it was a good place to spend the summer. I drove myself.”
    “You drove all the way from Miami by yourself?” Chelsea asked.
    Katie knew Chelsea was notorious for being fearful, but when you had been sick and in need of a heart transplant for as long as Chelsea had before getting one, it was easy to forgive her anxiety.
    “It’s only a two-day drive. I spent the night with my aunt in Jacksonville.”
    The group flopped onto the floor and Lacey asked, “So, Chelsea, what do you hear from DJ?”
    Chelsea’s face went sad. “He’ll never care about me. He can’t get over what happened to his sister.”
    Katie explained briefly to Meg how Chelsea and Jillian had both needed the same organ transplant, and that Chelsea had gotten it, while Jillian had died waiting for it.
    Instantly Meg felt sorry for Chelsea. “The same thing happened to a friend of mine,” she said. “He died waiting for a liver transplant.”
    There was a moment of heavy silence. “This conversation has gotten far too serious,” Lacey said briskly. “Well, I’m sure there’ll be other guys, Chelsea. It’s DJ’s loss.” She turned to Katie. “I saw Joshwhen I pulled in. Did you know he was here, Katie?”
    Katie’s stomach did a flip-flop. “No.”
    “You mean you didn’t see him while you were at home? You haven’t talked to him since you got back from college?”
    “I—uh—I’ve been busy.”
    “Too busy to see Josh?” Lacey looked incredulous.
    “No way,” Chelsea added.
    “I’m not his keeper, you know,” Katie said.
    Lacey turned to Meg. “He’s the nicest guy in the whole world. And they’re perfect for each other. And someday our little Katie is going to wake up and realize it. We all just hope it won’t be too late.”
    Katie jumped up. “Give it a rest.” She went for the door. “See you all later. I’m going for a run.”
    “You can run, but you can’t hide,” Lacey called after her as she bolted through the doorway.
    Furious at her friends’ meddling, Katie jogged down one of the trails. Why couldn’t they understand how mixed up she was inside about Josh? They were right, however. She hadn’t called him while she’d been at home. And she’d left without ever letting him know she’d been there.
    She picked up speed, realizing how much bettershe always felt when she ran. For a while after she had learned about the virus in her heart, she had thought she might not survive, let alone run again. But the heart transplant had given her back the world she had been in danger of losing. She was grateful every day to the One Last Wish Foundation, which had made it all possible.
    She rounded a bend at full speed and ran smack into a male chest.
    “Whoa!” she heard the owner of the chest say. He caught her arms to keep her from falling.
    Katie looked up to see Josh’s beautiful blue eyes looking straight into hers.

THREE

    “Y ou’re still as fast as the wind, aren’t you, Katie?”
    A lump in her throat almost prevented her from speaking. “I’m sorry,” she said.
    “Sorry for what?”
    “Sorry for almost knocking you down,” she