With a heavy heart from losing a friend in a tragedy that he couldn't prevent, Socrates Lewis still finds comfort in feeding the birds and his playful conversations with Wendy and her cat, Rae Cat. The whiskey helps too.

But his life gets a fresh upheaval when someone new invites herself to his bird-feeding ritual. Or is she from his very recent past? He might never solve that mystery. He might even like the not-knowing part of it, true to his adopted name.

With Aspin, he retraces almost every experience he had with Miley in that single, rainy night. Everything she says and does maneuvers him toward a pivotal realization, something that he knew in his heart but had never said.

He needed to say it. And she'd risk killing him to hear it.