Chapter 19: Stone Night

Stone Night was held in the university's rock hall.

Forty-one students stood along the walls in their best clothes.

Each one stood beside a hand sample on a white card.

Mine was a flat black piece of basalt from the breakwater shore, with one white vein running through it.

A little label said "J. Tennison, Lake Superior."

Donors in linen drifted down the line with wine glasses.

"How lovely," they said. "What is it, exactly?"

I told each of them what it was.

Caleb stood at my elbow in a borrowed tie, as quiet as a fence post.

Dani stood on my other side with her phone hidden in the front pocket of her overalls.

"Is it recording?" I whispered.

"It's been recording since the coat check."

At seven, the dean tapped her glass.

Hailey's father stood up from the head table in his gray suit.

A girl in a cream dress stood up beside him.

My stomach turned over.

Hailey's hair was curled. Her hands were folded in front of her.

She looked small and tired and very young.

"Thank you all for coming," she said.

Her voice was soft, and the room leaned toward it.

"I wasn't sure I should be here."

"I've had a hard month. Some of you have seen it."

"I want to tell you something about loving people."

A donor near me murmured, "Poor lamb."

"When I was twelve, I lost my mother," Hailey said. "After that, I held on to everyone I had."

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