I talked about losing my dad. And I told him about the morning I woke up at boarding school and was summoned to the principal’s office. I was told my stepfather had been arrested, and I was being asked to leave due to the fact my fees hadn’t been paid since the beginning of the school year. “I wasn’t even allowed to go back to my room and pack my own things. Or even say goodbye. Everyone was in assembly.” I swallowed the ball of shame and humiliation that always lodged in my throat when I thought back. “My mother was there to pick me up, and she was so shocked and humiliated by everything she couldn’t even talk to me. We said nothing the whole drive home. When we got there, there were press at the gates. We could hardly get through. The police arrived so we could get through the gate but had to endure walking to the front door with that audience. I left all my stuff in the car rather than unpack in front of them.”

Xavier reached for my hand. “I know what wolves they can be.”

Blinking away some moisture in my eyes, I continued. “I remember asking as we closed the front door behind us, ‘Is this house even ours, or will we be kicked out of here too?’ The answer was, of course, yes, we would be kicked out. The mortgage had not been paid in six months. It was that question that broke my mother. She loved that house. She and my father had bought it together, well before my stepfather had entered the picture.” My wine glass empty, I picked up my water glass and took a long sip, remembering how she’d all but collapsed and I’d had to try and get her to the sofa. “Not many friends reached out to me. Even friends I’d been in school with for years. Meredith did though.” I smiled. “I’ve known Meredith since elementary school. Tabs only since college, though it feels like so much longer. I miss them. They’re also my family really.”

Xavier reached for the dusty bottle of red wine Cristo had opened earlier and poured us both new glasses.

“I’m sorry that happened to you,” he said. “I can’t imagine how that must have felt. Like an earthquake under your feet.”

“Something like that. If the earthquake destroys the whole world around you and leaves you standing and wondering where it all went. It still haunts us. Charleston has a long memory. The day I accepted the job to come here, I’d just been passed over for a promotion at work, and the senior partner made some mention of my stepfather. After all these years, we are still paying for his sins. I was told that I’d never get a promotion.”

Xavier scowled. “Fool,” he said acidly.