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She didn't respond right away. I wasn't the most patient person, but I knew Cleo. She was putting her thoughts together so I forced myself to stay silent.

“I still love Jasper,” she said.

“I don't doubt that at all,” I said, feeling a little confused.

She went silent again, still staring at her fingers and scraping at a raw spot on her thumb with her middle finger. I took both her hands in mine.

“Hey, what’s going on?” I asked.

She met my gaze, her expression worried and a little scared. “What if I like Narmuna and Lexarit?”

“What kind of like?” I asked.

“The kind of like that could lead to love,” she said. Her expression turned to one of deep guilt.

“Don’t feel bad.” I pointed to myself. “I can tell you from experience that it’s easy to fall in love with these guys.”

“You don’t understand," she whispered. “It feels like I'm betraying Jasper.”

“I never expected you to stay a lonely widow for the rest of your life,” I said. “And Jasper wouldn't have wanted that either.”

“He always teased me that I wasn't allowed to find anyone more handsome than him if he died before me,” she said with a watery chuckle.

I wasn't sure what to say. “Well, the guys are big and pretty, but Jasper was definitely cuter.” That sounded horribly awkward to me so I tried again. “I mean, everyone is pretty in their own way. Um, Lexarit has really nice quills, and Narmuna’s coloring seems unique.”

“Stop,” Cleo said, with a shake of her head.

“Sorry,” I said.

“You're so bad at this,” she said.

“I know,” I said. “That’s one of the reasons I love you so much. You always took care of all the emotional conversations. Does Jasper’s joke about not being with someone handsome really bother you? I promise he didn’t mean it.”

She rolled her eyes at me. “I know that,” she said, with an amused huff.

“Then what’s going on?” I asked. “Explain it to me like I’m Opal.”

She blinked. “You are Opal.”

“I know. That’s why you need to talk slowly.”

She snorted, then her expression turned serious. “I thought we'd be together forever, and when he said that, I always pictured us old and gray. He wasn't supposed to leave me this soon. Now I’m going from being in deep mourning to potentially falling in love with two other males while I’m still pregnant with Jasper’s child. It feels like I’m being selfish and not honoring Jasper’s role in my life enough.”

“Oh,” I said, finally understanding. This was about guilt. “I'm bad at this.”

“Tell me what Jasper would say about this whole situation,” Cleo requested. “I don't care if you think it would be negative, I need to know. Do you think he'd be upset with me?”

I bit my lip, debating about being honest.

“Talk,” Cleo demanded.

“Right, so I don't know if you knew this, but Jasper was bi,” I said.

“What?”

“Did he tell you about his crazy ex, Wren?”

She nodded. “Of course. Wren is why he can't ever eat jorga again.”