I rolled my shoulders, trying to loosen them. “I haven’t heard from them in a year.”

Yolanda examined me, her face concerned. “I can’t imagine what you went through. And with Zoey and Sidney, it probably felt like they were leaving you, too. That must have dredged up a lot of past hurts.”

We kept walking for a minute as I sorted through my thoughts for a response. She wasn’t wrong—it had felt like an echo of the past, my family being taken away again. And yet, it wasn’t. “I love my sister. I want her to be happy.” I tucked Juliet to my side, needing the comfort. “She has a hard time attaching to people. Dating…” I shook my head. “She’s a mess when it comes to dating. Losing my girlfriend sucked. I won’t pretend it wasn’t painful, but…” I struggled to think of how to say it. “It was sort of tempered by the fact that Sid made Zoey happy in a way I’d never seen.”

“How does she do that?” Yolanda asked.

I checked on Lou and Savannah again, relaxing when I saw Lou holding her up so she could touch the monkey bars. “After they told me, I thought back to all the times we hung out. And I watched them interact after the whole mess.” I rubbed a hand over my jaw. “It’s hard to explain it, but Zoey lights up when Sid’s around. They seem…right. I don’t know. I think Sid and I had been over for a long time, but neither of us wanted to acknowledge it.”

Just the fact that we hadn’t had sex in ages, that we hadn’t made time for each other to hang out or go on a date, should have been a gigantic red flag. On fire. With klaxons attached. Not that needs don’t change, but we’d been very attentive to each other at the beginning, and at some point that had petered out. We’d both been busy, and I’d chalked it up to that. Truth was, we hadn’t been interested. I glanced at Juliet. “The longer I’m here in Seattle, the more it seems like something that happened to someone else. It hurt, but I love them, and I want them to be happy, you know?”

Juliet squeezed me with both arms this time. “You’re a good person, Declan.”

“I try to be,” I said. “Sometimes I fail.” I looked over at Lou, who was pushing Savannah on the swing. The little girl’s face was all smiles as she squealed with each push. “I feel like I’ve failed Lou with all of this.”

Yolanda stopped me. “No. This is not your fault, and it’s not hers. All of this rests at Eva’s and Angus’s door.” She checked her watch. “Juliet has put together a few sessions without me—more like check-ins than sessions like this. She’s paired them with activities, walks, yoga, and some breathing and meditation.” When I didn’t argue, she continued, explaining how Juliet would keep her in the loop, and when our next session together would be.