It took a moment for my world to reassemble itself. I was in my apartment, passed out on the couch. I had no idea what day or time it was, and for a moment I felt scared. What had I missed?

The banging on the door continued.

“Please open up!” She sounded frantic, spooked.

“Coming!” I yelled. I hefted myself up, feeling my legs wobble as the apartment shifted underfoot. Suddenly the world fell on its side. I clutched the arm of the sofa to regain my balance, waiting for the room to stop spinning. Closing my eyes, I inhaled deeply. A few seconds passed, along with the vertigo.

I shuffled to the front door, unlocking the dead bolt. Before I could even crack the door open, Mackenzie pushed her way past me into the entryway.

“Willow’s missing.” Her face was pink and flustered, like she’d jogged the whole way here. But I recognized it as hysteria. Mackenzie often got this way when Owen pushed her to the breaking point. My job as best friend was to level her out, talk sense back into her. I knew how to navigate the spousal merda, but runaway kids were not in my wheelhouse. It was information overload for my fried brain to process.

“Wait—start over. What’s going on?”

I led her into the living room, then settled on the edge of the sofa while Mackenzie paced the floor.

“Willow was at school this morning but went missing. Robin’s at the police station right now. We need to help in any way we can.”

“What can we do?” I had never had kids. I had never dealt with the police. This couldn’t have anything to do with me and Grant in the pantry, could it? Was I to blame?

I didn’t want to ask, didn’t want to know. I felt useless. Worthless. Depressed. Miserable.

Guilty.

And it had nothing to do with Willow but everything to do with what I’d done.

“I don’t know what to do,” Mac fretted. “I just feel horrible for Robin, especially since the last time we spoke we got into a major fight.” She paused. Knowing her for so long, I could tell she was hiding something.

“What’d you fight about?”

She shrugged halfheartedly. “Nothing.”

I wasn’t buying that.

“Come on. You know I’ll always listen to you.”

“Fine.” She hesitated, and for a moment I wondered if she had decided not to spill. Finally, pay dirt. “I caught Aria and Ryan having sex.”

“What?” The word escaped while I was still processing the news. Little Aria, not so little anymore.

“But Aria has no recollection of it. And Robin’s acting like it’s no big deal.”

“They’re teens, Mac. It’s a rite of passage to make dumb decisions.”