“Then come with me for protection…or moral support.”

“Uh, I don’t know…” Cody wavered, gaze hopscotching from my face, to the roof of my car, to the street.

“Never mind. Forget I asked. I’ll go alone.”

“What is with you women wanting to do dangerous things by yourselves?” Cody grumbled, as he circled around the front of the car and slipped into the other side. “Obviously I’m not letting you go alone. I don’t have anything better to do.”

“You know it’s a bit sexist and narcissistic of you to think women are too weak to handle dangerous stuff while you big, tough, powerful men can save us from ourselves, right?” I said as I pulled away from the curb.

“Oh, come on. If it was a woman offering to go with you, you’d appreciate it. If it’s a man, you call him sexist? That’s a double standard, Felicity. I’m trying to look out for you. Why demonize that?”

“It’s the belief systems beneath the words. I don’t want to get into a debate about this, but you have a tendency to need to prove yourself. It’s like you’re in some kind of competition with yourself, with your brother, always needing to be the best, be the savior. But sometimes you focus so much on trying to save others that you don’t notice you’re drowning.”

“I’m not drowning.”

“Cody…” He knew the truth. We’d both been floundering for months.

We didn’t speak as I tried to read Blythe’s directions while squinting against the dark in search of my turns. As I was turning right, Cody blurted out, “This isn’t the right turn. It’s the next one—on Marigold Street.”

“Huh?” I slowed the car to a roll and checked the directions. Cody was right. “How did you know that?”

He was quick to answer, “I remember the directions that Blythe gave you.”

“Yeah, but those were directions from her house. How do you know how to get there from your house?”

“I know the area, Felicity. I know all these streets.” He turned toward the window. Avoidance, his biggest tell.

“You’re going with that, huh? Not even going to try a better lie than that? Because you knew right away it was the wrong turn…like you’d been to his house before, Cody.”

I swerved to the side of the road. I wasn’t moving until I had answers.

“If I tell you the truth, I don’t want you to be angry with me.”

“Spit it out!” I yelled. “This is my daughter we’re talking about!”

“Okay, okay. Marin and I talked to Austin already.”

“What?” I put the car in park. I was shaking too hard to trust my limbs. A red-hot fury overcame me, and before I could control the impulse, I reached out and slapped him across the face.