Kira's question still hung in the cool air like smoke that refused to drift away. The wave crashed on the shore ahead, the sound filling the gap between them.
Derek stared at her for a long moment, the wind pulling at the edges of his shirt. Kira slowly lifted the teddy bear and sat it on her lap, hugging it as if it would take whatever heaviness that had settled over them away.
"It depends on what you ask," he said at last, his voice low and flat. "And just because you ask doesn't mean I'll give you an answer."
Kira eyed him sideways, her fingers tightening around the teddy bear in her lap. She had expected him to brush her off completely, the way he usually did. But he had not. He was waiting.
"Can you remember everything?" she asked, her voice barely louder than the wind. "I mean... everything that happened to you when you were much younger? Like, really little?"
