Heat from that hand seeped into me. It was the first time Anna had reached out. The first time she’d made the initial contact. And damn it felt good. My gaze met hers. “We have more in common than you think. A club that neither of us ever wanted to be in.”

Her eyes lit with understanding. “I hate that for you.”

She didn’t move her hand, and I laid mine over hers as if the heat from her touch could somehow replace the cold of the memories battering at my brain. “My dad was sick. I don’t know what it was, but he had the highest highs and the lowest lows. Either could turn violent. And there was a paranoia in him. He’d accuse my mom of cheating or me of stealing things from him when he misplaced something.”

“But your mom never left.”

“No. She had this unquenchable hope in her. No matter what he did, she thought he would change.”

“They never do.”

“No, they don’t.” If someone was going to heal from that, it would take years of intensive therapy. Medication. And even then, I wasn’t sure. But it didn’t matter because he’d never once tried for help. Even when my mom would suggest seeing a doctor or counselor. On a good day, he’d blow her off, on a bad one, he’d backhand her and send her flying.

“How old were you?”

“Fourteen. Juliette was only two.”

I could hear my father’s words as the car picked up speed. “You’re not going to leave me.” Maybe she had been planning to run. Maybe her daughter walking and talking had been a wake-up call. She hadn’t protected me, but maybe something about Juliette had made her want to fight.

“God, Mason. I can’t imagine.”

I didn’t want her to. I didn’t want anyone to live with the images that haunted me. The feelings. The burn in my lungs as I broke the surface. Juliette’s cries as she coughed up water. I’d wanted to dive back down and try to get to my mom, but I couldn’t leave Jules alone on the bank of the lake. I didn’t know how long I’d waited, hoping she’d surface. But she never had.

“We made it.” It was the only thing I had to hold onto. Jules and I had survived. And now, we were thriving.

“Who did you live with after?”

My jaw clenched reflexively. “My aunt and uncle. They were absent at best. Overwhelmed with their own three kids. So, I pretty much raised Jules. Went to college near their house so I could stay close, and she came to live with me full time when I was in law school.”

“You never got a chance to be a kid.”

“Neither did you.”