“Wait,” Ezra said. “I came to say more than that, though. I came to tell you that I’m a hypocrite. That I expect things of you that I don’t expect of myself. There are things I haven’t told you, either, things I haven’t shared. And that’s not fair.”

Emily tucked her bare legs underneath her. The sand was cool against her skin. “What didn’t you tell me?” she asked, wondering what it could possibly be.

“When I was in medical school, I was almost engaged,” he said.

“You were?” she asked, not because she didn’t believe him, but because she didn’t know what else to say. He’d kept the same kinds of secrets she had.

“I moved with her out to California for my residency. She wanted to work in medical tech, figuring out how computers could make medicine better. Once we got out there, she changed her focus; she saw the money other people were making and wanted to go after it—success meant something different. It changed her. It changed us. It made me think that the kind of success I wanted wasn’t something she’d be proud of anymore. I’d bought a ring but couldn’t bring myself to give it to her. I finished my residency feeling totally at sea—the only thing that got me through it was my work. It’s how I coped, it’s how I cope, I guess, when things in my personal life are hard. But you’re not me. And you’re not Veronica, either. And I didn’t take care of you the way I promised I always would.”

Her name was Veronica. “No, I’m not her,” Emily said. “But after hearing about that, it helps me understand why you reacted the way you did.” She leaned her head against his shoulder. “I’m sorry. But I . . . I still do want to pursue music. And it might change me a little. It might change us. And I know you said it wasn’t something Golds do, but . . . maybe we can expand the definition of your family. Of our family.”

“I read The Crack-Up, the F. Scott Fitzgerald book, when I was in college. And there’s this line where he says, ‘In a real dark night of the soul it is always three o’clock in the morning.’ When I read your journal and then found out you were in Mexico, when I realized you’d gone to perform with him, my soul felt like three o’clock in the morning. And I realized I wanted to fight for us. And I will. I’ll do whatever it takes to fight for us.”