“If it’s no problem, then why aren’t you looking at me?”

I raised my head, forcing myself to meet his gaze. Mason was too handsome for his own good. Too charming and sweet, and it made women like me stupid. It made me think that something could work between the two of us when it was actually impossible. “I didn’t want to chop off a finger.”

His lips twitched, and my eyes followed every flicker of movement. “Safety is important. Still, I’m sorry.”

“Okay.”

He studied my face, trying to read between the lines. “What did you need?”

He hadn’t even listened to my voicemail. If that wasn’t all the evidence I needed, I didn’t know what would be. “Nothing important.”

Mason opened his mouth to say something, but Justin and Lyla barreling through the back door cut him off. Justin held up a hand for a high-five. “Mase! We went to Cain and Kennedy’s, and I taught myself to flip off the trampoline into the lake. It was so sick.”

Mason grinned. “We’ll have to go back this weekend so you can show me.”

“I did the biggest cannonball. I have to show you!” Lyla cut in.

“Maybe after dinner, you can show me in the pool.”

“Totally,” she agreed.

I lost myself in preparing the meal, in the din of the chatter. I should’ve been happy. Justin and Lyla were flourishing, even amid the trauma of these past months. But inside, a piece of me was dying. Because I knew I’d never have what I wanted most—for all of us to be a real family.

I paused and listened as I reached the second floor. There wasn’t a peep of sound coming from Justin’s or Lyla’s rooms. I still couldn’t resist peeking inside. Justin slept like a starfish, arms and legs thrown wide. Lyla was the opposite, curling herself into a ball so tight, I didn’t know how it was comfortable.

I envied them both in that moment. I wanted the sweet oblivion of deep sleep. But I knew I’d be lucky if I got a few fitful hours. I’d thought briefly about pretending to fall asleep on the couch downstairs where I’d been working on my laptop. But it only meant delaying the inevitable. Tomorrow night, I’d have to sleep in that bed, feel Mason’s body next to mine but know we were worlds away.

I climbed that final stretch of stairs to the third floor, sending up a silent prayer that he was already asleep. The deep timbre of Mason’s voice told me that I was out of luck. I paused on the landing, trying to brace myself to walk inside.

“Were you able to find any more photos?”

Silence.

“Were there drugs in any of them?”