You have to understand, I didn't believe, in a million years, that Pam would come back here. She was the type to keep her promises, and she'd been very clear with me all those years ago. I felt underprepared for this reunion in every possible regard.

I'm pretty sure my jaw literally dropped, because it wasn't until she raised an inquisitive eyebrow at me that I was able to yank myself out of my stunned silence and stammer a confused, "P-Pam?"

"I suppose I should have worn a hat," she admitted. "I'm sure the long-awaited appearance of the top of my head is rather jarring for you all."

Selina smiled coyly down at her menu as Pam stood, taking my hand and enveloping me in a hug—one like soft velvet upholstered to a solid interior—before I could speak again.

I didn't dare resist, instead melting into her arms, like it was the most natural thing in the world. Thank goodness my late growth spurt allowed us to circumvent the predictable awkwardness that would have ensued had my head only been able to rest against her chest like in the old days. My current height allowed me to comfortably reach her shoulder, and I did, laying my head there and closing my eyes before I could give my body the physical command to.

Pam smelled like perfume—sweet, floral perfume, but somehow her skin also carried the underpinning scent of the outdoors. Fresh and clean, like pine needles and sunscreen absorbed by tan skin. A specific smell, one that I never expected to find on Pam.

"I should have known you'd be more beautiful than I remembered," she whispered against my ear. I nearly convulsed into a full-body blush.

Bruce cleared his throat, though less out of awkwardness than hunger, it seemed. "Harley, we're half starved. We've got the whole weekend to make up for lost time."

Selina snickered beside him, and Pam let go, though her fingers lingered on my skin a moment longer.

"I'll just—." I coughed. "I'll run your orders back to the kitchen. What can I get'cha?"

"No, Harl, you're sitting with us," Selina protested.

"I will, I will," I assured her, trying to keep my nervous giggle at bay. "I'll just get everything started, then be right back out."

"Then it's pancakes all around, I think," Bruce spoke for everyone.

"I'll take the salmon omelet, actually," Selina dissented.

Pam smiled, her truly breathtaking features filled with a genuine humor. "You would."

Before that could make me blush again, I turned and hightailed it to the kitchen, shooting Eddie a not-so-subtle get your ass over here I need to freak out for a second look before disappearing behind the curtain.

He reluctantly set his pastry down and followed, looking somewhere between perplex and inconvenienced.

My cook had gone out the back door to get rid of the excess grease from the stove, so I felt I could speak openly.

"Eddie!" I grabbed him by the lapels of his shirt as soon as he entered, and thrust myself against his chest, nearly in tears of hysteria. "I didn't know she was coming."

"Uh…" he awkwardly patted my back. "I'm not sure who exactly you mean…"

"The girl!" I nearly sobbed, though without any tears.

"Which girl?"

"The girl! My girl! The one whose heart I'm pretty sure I broke."

Eddie's confusion was obvious in his voice. "…the weird one with the skin condition?"

"She wasn't weird!"

"OK, the one everyone but you thought was weird with the skin condition? She's here?"

"Sitting with Bruce and Selina."

I almost heard his eyebrow raise, and he created a few inches between us to ask me, like I was crazy, "The bombshell at table 4?"

"That's the one!" I was pretty sure I was yelling at this point. Actually, I know I was, because Eddie covered my mouth with his hand and waited to respond until I'd calmed down slightly.

"Harley," he chuckled. "I was 21 when I moved here, your gang had been gone for 3 years already, and I still know all about the Witch Child of Castle Rock. And there is no way that's her. That woman looks like a catalogue model."

"I know!" I covered my own mouth this time, only removing it when I was sure I could trust myself. "I wasn't—I didn't prepare—I…Eddie, what am I supposed to do?"

Eventually, the earnestness in my expression and the franticness of my tone seemed to convince him of my sincerity because he leaned inconspicuously out of the curtain to get another look at table 4, then returned to me once he'd had his fill. "OK." He took my shoulders. "Well, Harley…you've aged…" he seemed to be searching for the right word. "Admirably."

"Admirably?!" I repeated, exacerbated. "Eddie, what is that supposed to mean?"

"It means…I'm not interested, through no fault of yours, but I still made an effort, didn't I?" He asked, though the question was rhetorical. "That has to count for something."

"I—I don't—,"

"Just…maybe don't expect to be the one breaking hearts this time," he suggested. "You're still you, and I'm sure she's still her, under all that tan skin and…her ample bosom, and….her…waves of crimson hair that seem to reflect the light like—,"

"Eddie, you're not interested, remember?" I interrupted him.

"Right, no, I'm just—from an empirical standpoint—never mind, it doesn't matter. Nor does the time and the distance. If she's your girl, she's your girl, right?"

"She was never my girl," I lamented, slumping against the wall. "She asked and I more or less told her she needed to get help."

"…right."

That's when the cook returned.

"Nothin' to it but to do it, Harl," were Eddie's departing words of wisdom, then he left, the siren song of his pastry calling him back.

I put in the order and left the safety of the kitchen as well, noticing Pam had pulled up an empty chair beside her. She was laughing at some joke Selina had evidently cracked by the time I arrived.

Laughing.

Pam laughed now.

It was a pleasant sound, one somehow melodic and full-throated all at once. It loosened the knot in my stomach, and I was able to take my seat.

"—He cried!" Selina continued. "Just broke down in tears."

"Oh, lay off," Bruce rolled his eyes. "We shouldn't have been doing it, anyway."

"Doing what?" I asked.

"Mailbox baseball," Pam filled me in, placing her hand on my knee. "Remember? Bruce tried that one night and couldn't stand to break the rules."

"The law, Pamela," Bruce corrected.

"I remember," I giggled, my skin tingling where she'd placed her hand. "It was your idea, Selina. The boys simply weren't up to snuff."

"Well, Harvey was all about law and order," Pam smiled, glowing in a good memory of their friend. "Never the rebel his father desired."

"Who can know what his father desired," Bruce said, handing Helena a different color crayon. "The man was a mystery."

"The man was a monster," Pam corrected. "He didn't deserve Harvey, not for a moment."

"Sometimes I'm not sure anyone did," Selina added. "Least of all us."

"Oh, we weren't so bad," I smiled. "And he really only signed up for Bruce, anyway."

"Touché," Selina winked, and Pam laughed.

I weathered a few moments of silence only I found awkward before starting, "So what have you—,"

But the tray of food interrupted me. I supposed I'd get to ask those questions later, after we all had a meal in us.