Beau had to take a moment before she replied; she knew Karolina well enough by now to know the compliment was genuine, and those were a little bit addictive for someone so unused to them that she had to stop and just . . . let it soak in a little bit.

"So we just make it up as we go along, kind of improvise?" she asked, reaching up to wrap her hands around Karolina's, almost more gently than she thought she was capable of. "Like -- figure it out together? I could be into that."

Karolina still had a slight edge on her own history of girls she never saw again once they were done with their business in town, granted, but at least they could both be a mess.