"They say if you remain friends for more than seven years, that you have a friend for life. My friend... I guess, best friend and I didn't talk for several years regularly but I know if push came to shove, he'd be there." And he had been. They both had been. "We try more often now to talk more life happens. So it seems to me that you have a best friend for life there, no matter which way it goes."

Piper shook her head. "It doesn't make you weak. It's a good thing to be aware of how your actions affect others. No one lives completely in a void unless they live totally off the grid. At the end of the day, you have to weigh the pros and cons of what matters most to you." Which really was, ultimately, what it came down to.