"Maybe not for me," Ellie says with another laugh, but pats the back of his arm as they start to angle down, circling into a glide that'll take them to the deck of the ship.

The offhand way Jim promises her he'll get looked at rings no more true than the rest of the times she's assured Joel she'll do the same thing. The pang of loss still aches, but it's no longer unbearable. She can breathe through it.

"Careful," she says. Solemn. "When something's cornered, it's the most unpredictable."