“But then someone brought in Jell-O shots, and I know I shouldn’t have drunk those, but everyone else was, and I didn’t want to look lame, so I did a few, and I was fine at first, but after half an hour I started to get really sick so I asked Jesse and Josie to take me home.”

My heart is beating so fast it might explode.

“But Josie didn’t want to go because there was a boy she liked at the party, and Jesse does whatever her older sister tells her, you know how she is. I didn’t have enough money to pay for a cab on my own, and you don’t want me to ride the subway at night alone, and I wasn’t feeling well enough anyway.”

“Why didn’t you call me?” I manage to ask, half-choked with anxiety.

Tegan stares at me now, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Mom, you would’ve gotten so mad. You lost it last time over a single sip of vodka; what would you have done if I called drunk from a house party you had no idea I was going to?”

Okay, I would’ve probably flown off the handle. But that’s beside the point.

“So, what did you do?”

Torn with guilt, she says, “I called Luke.”

My heart breaks and heals a million times in the space of a second. Tegan was the emergency he couldn’t talk about?

“And, Mom, I made him swear not to tell you anything, or else I wouldn’t give him the address.”

The guilt of not trusting him punches me in the stomach, while my pulse accelerates further.

“And then what happened?” I ask, close to tears myself.

“Well, he dropped everything—namely you and your date—and came to get me. It wasn’t that late yet, so Luke thought he’d make it to dinner in time. But then, while we were driving home, I felt sick and we had to stop. He got me a Gatorade at a 7-Eleven, and it took me a while to be okay again. We were still in the car when he called you, but your phone was off or something. Anyway, once I was well enough to go back in the car, he brought me home, put me to bed, and made sure I was sleeping before he came to you.”

On one hand, I’m deeply touched by how he took care of my daughter. I feel like a complete idiot, and I want to run after Lucas to beg him to forgive me. On the other hand, I can’t help being furious that he’d keep such a huge secret from me. This is my daughter we’re talking about; when a teen pulls a stunt like that, it’s not okay to just put them to bed, make sure they’re all right, and leave them with no consequences.