“So, Beckett seems pretty sure the baby couldn’t have been Daniela’s.”

“You want to see the picture too?” Penn demands, and there’s an edge in his voice now. Not sharp like a knife, but rough like a rock. An edge that will grind you into nothing. “You want to see the picture of my girlfriend in her underwear? Because I’m sure she’d be fine with me showing that to my whole damn family.”

“No, I don’t want to see it. But I do have to ask … is there any chance that you could have fathered a baby with someone other than Daniela?”

I expect Penn to hit the roof. To start shouting at Mom for doubting his honor. For accusing him of cheating on his girlfriend.

Instead, silence echoes from beyond the door to my brother’s room. Then his bedsprings creak, and I lean closer to the door so I can hear better. Because I think he’s just whispered the word “yes.”

“Right before Daniela and I got together, there was one other girl. It was just once. It was stupid, and you can’t tell Beckett.” He lowers his voice even further as I press myself against the door, palms flattened on either side of my face, my cheek flush against the wood.

I have no idea what his confession has to do with me, but I need to hear it.

“Amira?” my mother guesses, and Penn makes this shocked sound.

No.

“How did you know?”

My mother’s laugh sounds like the pop of a cork from a champagne bottle. A sudden release of pressure. “Have you forgotten what I do for a living?”

But Penn isn’t laughing. “Like I said, it was just once. She was here, trying to be helpful right after Dad died, and Beckett was ignoring her. I offered her a ride home, and she started bawling on the way. She was upset because she thought Beck was freezing her out, and she didn’t know how to help.

“I was trying to make her feel better.” Penn huffs. “My dad had just died, and I was trying to make her feel better. But then, maybe that’s what she was trying to do for me too. I honestly have no idea. All I know is that I pulled over behind the Dairy Queen so she could calm down before we got to her house. And I gave her a hug.

“The next thing I know, we’re in the back seat of the car.”

The car. My car. Because Penn hadn’t taken over Dad’s truck yet.

“It was a mistake. I wasn’t thinking straight, and I messed up. Daniela and I got together about a week later, and things have been weird between Amira and me ever since.”

“I bet they have,” my mom says. “Were you careful?”