I was beyond grateful when my BFF arrived on the red-eye from LAX the next morning. There was a stack of Travesty NY stuff to deal with that needed Lex’s know-how and tact.

But the real reason I was glad? I just missed her.

Lex and I met the first day of kindergarten. We were sitting in a circle, writing our initials on pieces of paper with crayon. I’d found some contraband glue and glitter, so I was happily creating my masterpiece when I noticed she was writing the same initials, A.C., in her green crayon. I took my paper over to show her.

“Does that mean we’re sisters?” she’d asked hopefully.

I’d frowned. “I have a sister.” Kate was a know-it-all.

“I don’t have any sisters. Or brothers.”

I’d taken in her face, the sadness, and said the only thing I could. “Yes. It means we’re sisters. Want sparkles on your picture?”

Little did my four-year-old brain know I’d made a decision that would change our lives.

“So here’s where we stand,” Lex was saying as she sat across from me and Jordan at Lindy’s. “The LA stores are optimistic about the fall line, based in part on the Claire skirt. We’re backordered on it in stores and online. If everything goes well once the full collection hits the shops next month, they’re expecting to grow their orders for spring.”

“That’s great!”

“It is, but they need to see the designs. Then we need things ready to ship by …” Lex checked her calendar and named a date. “Where are we at on distribution?”

Jordan pulled up a document on her phone and enlarged it so we could see. “I renegotiated our contract but we’d need designs a week earlier.” She looked at me for confirmation.

I froze, a piece of bagel halfway to my mouth. “Are you kidding? I only have half the patterns.”

“Ava!” Lex’s head looked like it might explode. “You said you’d have everything for us to look at next week. We’re supposed to do a retail preview in six weeks.”

“It’s OK! I’ll have prototypes of everything,” I insisted. “Promise. I have all the sketches.” Even though I wasn’t happy with the current ones, I couldn’t let my best friend down. Not the way she was looking at me.

We wrapped up our business an hour later and said goodbye to Jordan, who went to catch the subway.

“How’re things with D?” I asked Lex as we turned toward home.

Instead of the happy response I’d expected, Lex sighed. “You really want to know?”

“Of course!”

“OK. I didn’t want to dump this on you because you’re his sister and it felt weird—”

“Lex?” I interrupted. “I may be a Cameron by blood, but we’re sisters by choice.”

She smiled, but it seemed to take effort. “In that case, the long distance sucks. I thought we had it all worked out. When we’d talk, and text, and visit. But I didn’t account for the fact that Dylan’s completely focused on his internship. He’s missed a couple calls since we moved, and I tried to understand. I mean, shit happens, right? But at least I figured I’d have his full attention when I went home.” She paused as we waited for the light to change. Stuck her hands in the pockets of her boyfriend-cut jeans. “I wanted it to be a surprise, which is why I didn’t tell him. And he was surprised, and happy. But he ended up working most of it and we had almost no time together. I ended up feeling like the idiot.”

Nope, you’re not the idiot. I mentally kicked my brother. For a smart guy, he could be pretty dense. “Lex, he wanted this so badly. That’s all he said for months.”

“Yeah.” She looked frustrated. “We’d even started talking about the future. You know, what we’d do when he finished school. After we get a year or two of Travesty under our belts. But now it’s like he’s zoned out and we’ve taken three steps back. I just wish he’d talk to me.”

I hated hearing her like that. I’d no idea the move had been so hard on their relationship. It made sense, though, going from seeing someone every day to not even every month. I couldn’t imagine being in that position.

“Lex, I won’t defend him, but you know Dylan can be … intense sometimes. And he loves you like crazy. He’s done more nice things for you than I’ve seen him do for anyone.”

She absorbed my words, turned them over. “True. But maybe it’s just too much, trying to make it work. I’m under a lot of pressure here, and Dylan’s trying to get into one of the top engineering firms …”

“Maybe it’s too soon. Maybe you’ll grow apart. Maybe Stella McCartney will renounce fashion and take up roller derby. Anything’s possible, Lex. The thing is, I’ve never met two people more head over heels for each other.”

Lex turned to face me as we waited for the light to change. “Thanks, A.” I could tell she was still worrying about it, but I wasn’t sure what I could do. “Anyway, enough about me! What about you? Did you go out with Josh again?”

So much for taking the focus off me. Ugh.

I sucked in a breath as I held the front door of our building for her. “Yeah.”

“And?”

“And we went to a baseball game. It was … great.” I tried to sound excited as we pushed the button for the elevator. “Did you know that Yankee Stadium is made from eleven thousand pieces of limestone? You can add that to your trivia bank up there.” I glanced at her forehead.

“Wow.” She looked at me like I was nuts.

“What?”

“If you liked this guy you’d be shouting it from the top of a building instead of telling me about one.”

“Well,” I said defensively, “he’s new. It might take some time, right?”

Lex eyed me. “Maybe. Speaking of lawyers, John said you were ready to murder one in the deposition.”

The elevator opened. Given how much the universe had been throwing Nate in my face lately, I half expected him to be there.

Finally, some luck. It was empty. We stepped in and hit the button for our floor.

“Nate might have rescued me the other night when I locked myself out.”

Lex was more worried about me than the keys. “I don’t like the thought of you locked out in New York and having to knock on doors to get in. It’s dangerous.”

“It’s hardly door-knocking, Lex. He’s our neighbor,” I reassured her as we stepped off the elevator.

“Still. It must’ve been awkward.”

My eyes lingered a second too long when we passed his door.

You have no idea.

* * *

“What’d you do to her?”

“Huh?” My brother’s disoriented voice came down the line.

“To Lex? What did you do? Or say?” I whisper-hissed, not wanting Lex, in her room, to overhear.

“Ava, I’m kind of busy.”

“Then why did you answer your damn phone?” I asked petulantly.

“I thought it might be an emergency.”

“Well, it is! It’s a freaking four-alarm fire, Dylan. So yeah, I’m going to call you when my best friend comes home practically in tears over you.”

“What are you talking about?” He was paying attention now.

I explained the highlights of our conversation, not wanting to give away any details that would betray Lex’s confidence. I’d gotten pretty good at it the few times I’d had to play go-between.

“Dylan, whatever you’re doing, stop. Because I know Lex. And she’s worried you’re not as invested in this as she is.”

I could hear the wheels turning in his head.

“It’s not like that, Ava. School’s been busy. Of course I want to see her, but I can’t just drop everything.”

“Don’t you think she gets that? Lex is the queen of busy. But she always finds time for the people she cares about.”

I could practically hear him thinking.

“I’ll fix it.”

“Good. And D? If you fuck this up, there are about a thousand guys in midtown alone who would line up to make time for Lex. I’m not saying that to scare you, because she’d never do anything. I’m saying it because it’s true. So get your head out of your ass and fix this.”

Dylan cursed. “Thanks for the pep talk.”