However worried she might have been about ripping a hole in his heart, there was no way around it. You couldn't rip a bandage like this off without taking a lot of skin, and everything about Luke now was more raw than either of them could know. And however painful, sharing the memory of his best friend was better than not doing so.

He raised an eyebrow at her words.

"That's a change," he murmured wryly. "I can't even count how many times he called me delusional and too big for my britches. When we met? He didn't even believe in the Force, let alone believe a starry-eyed teenager could possibly have anything to do with it."