The memories of that night rose up with fierce suddenness and clarity, nearly swamping him. He fought the shudder that began down so deep he wasn’t even sure where it originated, only that if he let it start he’d be on his knees. And while he’d often thought he should do just that in front of her, it was for him to apologize, not her.

“Are you done?” he asked, his voice so tight it sounded even to him as if it would shatter.

“Adam, please. I’ve treated you so horribly—”

“You’ve treated me exactly as I deserved.”

“No!” She reached out then, and before he could pull away she’d grabbed his hand. Her touch sent a lick of fire through him, which was the only thing that immobilized him long enough for her to go on. “No, you don’t deserve the awful things I thought, not at all. All these years I blamed you for something you couldn’t help. All this time—”

He jerked away then, and stood up in a rush. “I don’t want your pity.”

“Pity? Is that what you think this is?”

“Isn’t it?”

“More like admiration, Adam Kirk. You’ve come back from that night, adapted where you had to, built a life—”

“Come back? Is that what you call it? I ran home and hid out like a scared kid. And I’ve stayed there.”

He turned away, back toward the front window. The sky was lighter, and he realized it was nearly dawn. Tried to calm down, picturing the sun rising over the rolling hills of home. Might even be able to actually see it there, for it appeared the storm had passed.

The physical one anyway.

“You went home to your family,” she said softly. “Just what I would have done.”

Except she didn’t have any family now. Thanks to him.

Silence stretched out between them. His mother, he realized, would say he was being rude not to accept what was clearly a genuine apology. The problem was, he didn’t deserve it. She was only doing it because she felt sorry for him now. Amanda Bonner would never kick someone when they were down, and obviously that’s the category she had put him in now.

He was thankful when Hayley and Quinn walked into the room.

“Ah, good,” Quinn said when he saw them. “I need to talk to both of you.”

Adam turned sharply at that, but he didn’t sound as if they had discovered something momentous.

Quinn got to the point quickly. “I’m going to make a quick flight to Walla Walla.”

Adam blinked. “To the prison?”

Quinn nodded.

“Then...you think he had something to do with it?” Amanda asked, her voice a little shaky again now.