Her father’s words said he agreed, but his eyes held hers as though he knew her unexpected appearance at the courthouse held motive. She swallowed. She might as well get it over with. The spark Charlie had lit in her soul was spreading, and before it fanned into something she didn’t dare dream possible, Lane knew this moment had to happen first.

“You remember Charlie Lynch? He’s the new deputy. The one I was with at the church benefit for Sydney.”

“I remember him.” Lane’s mother set down her fork and wiped her lips. “I didn’t realize he was with you.”

Heat flooded Lane’s cheeks. “It was kind of a . . . date.”

“A date?” Her mother reached across the table toward Lane’s hand, but her father quickly interrupted the gesture by grabbing her mother’s hand and holding tight.

Lane tucked her hands into fists beneath the table. “It’s been, uh . . . well, he’s nice and he likes Noah. And Ms. Byrdie thinks maybe I could start, well . . . I don’t know, but—”

“Lane, what is it you want?” Her father’s deep voice sent a tremor through Lane’s chest. “Why are you here?”

“Dr. Wong wants you and Mom to join me at a session,” Lane blurted out. And before the last ounce of what remained of her courage—or stupidity, she wasn’t sure which it was yet—left, she said, “And I’d like to tell Charlie the truth.”

The lines around her father’s eyes tightened. “For what purpose?”

Lane wasn’t sure which part he was referring to and whether it mattered. From his expression, she could already see him forming his answers, but her mom . . . well, something was there. Something Lane had been noticing in the way Meagan looked at her recently as well.

“Charlie’s a nice man. He’s sweet to me and, more importantly, to Noah. I don’t want to start a relationship without him knowing about my past . . . or what I’m going through now.”

“So, you’re still having issues?”

Lane stiffened. “Dad, it’s depression. It doesn’t just go away.”

“But isn’t that why you’re seeing Dr. Wong?” her mother asked. “To help you get better?”

“I am getting better, Mom, but it doesn’t mean my condition is going to change or ever fully go away. It doesn’t work that way, and if you and Dad came to an appointment—”

“That’s not going to happen.”

“What?” Lane faced her father. “Why not?”

“You realize I’m running for the United States Senate? Judge Atkins wants the position bad enough that he has my life under a microscope, trying to find something to nail me on.”

Lane blinked. “And you think he’d use me to do that?”