The night air was thick with smoke and the sweet scent of grilled corn, the crackle of fireworks bursting over the lake. Three years had passed since that Fourth of July—since the kiss Keithie Fender and Jiji shared at twelve years old, standing barefoot in the grass with sparklers still glowing in their hands.

Neither of them had ever brought it up. Neither had dared.

Now, at fifteen, Jiji sat cross-legged on a blanket near the dock, little Marcie—Kurt’s daughter—nestled into her side. The girl’s wide eyes reflected the explosions of color above them, her tiny hands clapping at every boom. Jiji smiled softly, but her gaze drifted every so often toward Keithie, who stood a few yards away with his dad, hands shoved deep in his pockets.

She thought he looked taller under the fireworks. Older. But still the same boy who’d kissed her once and made her heart stop.

Keithie’s dad clapped a hand on his shoulder, leaning down to speak over the noise. “Son,” he said, chuckling, “whatever happened with that kiss you had with Jiji on the Fourth a while back? Did it ever mean anything to you, or was it just kids bein’ kids?”

Jiji hadn’t meant to overhear. But the words cut clear through the air, sharper than the whine of fireworks.

Keithie’s head jerked up, eyes wide like he’d been caught. His jaw worked for a second before he muttered, almost too low to hear, “Yeah. It meant something. Still does.”

Jiji froze. Her chest tightened, every firework suddenly a drumbeat against her ribs. She kept her face angled toward the sky, pretending to be caught up in the colors, but her ears burned, her whole body aware of what he’d just admitted.

Keithie’s dad gave him a pat, laughing, and wandered off toward the coolers. Keithie stayed rooted in place, staring down at the grass, as if he hadn’t just confessed the one thing they’d both been too afraid to say.

Jiji’s heart pounded. Three years of silence between them cracked like glass under the weight of a single overheard truth.

And this time, she knew—neither of them could keep pretending it hadn’t meant something.