“Why couldn’t the therapist come to her?”

He remembered opening the door while at the guesthouse and forcing Tia to let him see her scars. He’d intended that to be a good thing but now worried that it hadn’t been. He wasn’t a psychologist. He was just a pragmatist. Maybe he’d done exactly the wrong thing, which was why he’d listened so closely to be sure she came to take care of Kiki.

Fortunately, she had... “I don’t know what her financial situation is.”

“She had to have made some money on that film.”

“But who knows what she’s done with it—or how long it will have to last her. Judging by her car, she doesn’t have much.”

His mother sighed as she stared into the steam rising from the churning water. “What should we do?”

“I’m keeping an eye on her.”

“Of course you are,” she said, shifting her focus back to his face, but her smile faded as she added, “But what about you?”

“What about me?”

“Eli also mentioned he ran into Shiloh’s father at the ice-cream store.”

“That’s what he said, but I don’t understand how they know I’m in town. I just got here.”

“Graham told Eli a neighbor saw you.”

Of course. He’d gone to the grocery store, and he’d taken his mother to lunch. Anyone could’ve seen him. “You told me to call them. I just...”

She reached over to squeeze his arm. “I know. It’s not easy.”

“They hated me for so long.” Sometimes it was difficult to forgive them, because of how hard their disapproval had been on Shiloh. He’d been afraid being caught in the middle would tear her apart. And it wasn’t just in the beginning. The tug-of-war lasted until well after they were married.

“They couldn’t see past your record, that’s all. But once they got to know you—”

“My record?” he interrupted. “I was only thirteen when I helped rob that bank.”

“I know. I see it that way, too, especially because you were roped into it by much older boys. And the execution of the robbery was...well, more comical than they perhaps realize.”

Seth couldn’t help chuckling at that statement. Because he’d refused to go inside the bank, he’d been designated the driver, even though he was younger by several years and didn’t have a license. He’d been so filled with adrenaline by the time they came running out, he’d floored the gas pedal the second they got in, lost control and crashed into the ATM.

“I’m sure Weasel and Zach don’t think it was funny,” he said. Although they’d also been underage, only sixteen and seventeen, they’d been prosecuted as adults because they’d used a toy gun that looked far too real.