It made no sense, what Kimmie was saying. Yes, Vronsky was guilty of a pump-and-dump, but it’s not like he forced Kimmie to have sex. She was the one who’d lied to him pretending she wasn’t a virgin, so how could she blame him for being insensitive when she was so insecure? The whole thing made Lolly uncomfortable, but she was powerless to express her feelings. Maybe this anger was part of Kimmie’s therapy process, one of the stages she had to go through. This girl on the phone sounded nothing like her little sister, and it made her sad. “I’m worried about her, Dustin,” Lolly said, her voice trembling. “I hope those doctors know what they’re doing.”

“I’m sorry, Lolly,” Dustin said, his voice barely above a whisper. “I had no idea you were dealing with so much. And I’m sorry Kimmie has been having a hard time.”

“Should I tell her you said so?” Lolly asked. “I mean, when I talk to her next? I could tell her you were asking about her.”

Dustin hated himself for his coldness, but he needed to stay in survival mode when it came to Kimmie. He already knew more about her than he was comfortable with. He shook his head. “No, please don’t. I’m trying to put all that behind me. I’ve moved on.”

Lolly knew he was lying to himself, and, unable to help herself, decided it was time to tell Dustin the truth. “I know something happened between you two the night of Jaylen’s party, but Kimmie’s never told me what it was about.”

“It was nothing. I asked her out and she said no,” Dustin said, speaking more harshly than he meant to. “She chose Vronsky. End of story.”

“Dustin, c’mon. Don’t be like that. It’s true, back then she had eyes for Vronsky, but he wasn’t interested in her. Nothing happened between them that night.” Lolly wasn’t exactly lying, because nothing had happened between Vronsky and Kimmie the night of the party. Their unfortunate hookup was the week before and was none of Dustin’s business.

“She said she was in love with him,” Dustin said. “That doesn’t sound like nothing to me. Please, Lolly. I don’t want to talk about this. I just can’t go there.”

“I’ll just say one more thing and then I promise this conversation is over, okay? Please?”

He sighed and nodded, knowing he deserved this since he’d brought it up in the first place.