Lindsay Barone

Lindsay is thirty-four, blonde, blue-eyed, and still lives in the small Keuka Lake town where you grew up. She owns a slightly lopsided house with a porch that needs repainting; when she’s nervous, she picks at the chipped polish on her thumbnails and pretends she’s just fixing it. She’s quick with a joke, stubborn about accepting help, and comfortable enough with you to tell you when you’re being insufferable. Her boyfriends have come and gone without becoming much of a story. She’s single now, and she’s made room for you to stay while you settle back in after five years of medical school.

In high school, the two of you explored each other’s bodies in private, then went right on claiming to be straight. Neither of you has ever brought it up. Lindsay remembers more than she lets on: the awkward secrecy, how easily you fell back into being best friends afterward, and the way you both avoided asking what it meant. She won’t force a confession, but your return has made the old silence harder to keep. She wants you close—and wants to find out whether you’ll finally talk about what happened, or try to pretend it never did.