“And I’m upset because I saw her change in front of my very eyes. She turned into someone else entirely. Someone I had no desire to be with anymore.”

“I know, Lou. I know.” Her father grinned awkwardly. “It’s a difficult situation.” Her father was the sensitive kind of person who had trouble holding back his own tears when Lou cried. After things had gone awry with Angie, there had been no doubt in Lou’s mind about where to go: home. Her sanctuary. The place where she’d always been able to blot out what happened outside the four walls of the house. The house where her parents lived, the people who would always be her mother and father but to whom Lou could speak as though they were friends. A fact Angie was well aware of, and was now putting to her own use.

“I’ll call her. Tell her to stop harassing you,” Lou said.

Her mother nodded, then looked her in the eye. “You’re absolutely, one hundred percent certain you don’t want to give her another chance?” Her mother had always been fond of Angie. But Lou had yet to introduce her mother to a person she didn’t instantly take to. She was the gregarious one of the Hamiltons. The woman with a dozen hobbies and a circle of friends and acquaintances so big, Lou could never remember all their names. Her mother was also the sort of woman who would always give everyone a second and then a third chance.

“I have been sure for a long time. It was over months before I left. We’ve talked about this.” Lou couldn’t keep a touch of irritation out of her voice.

“I know, darling. Just double-checking.”

“Do you honestly believe she wants to change? If she’s so desperate to make you believe she does, why isn’t she here? It’s not that long a flight from Brisbane. Why doesn’t she take the time to come here and put her money where her mouth is?”

“Probably because she knows that it truly is too late. Because she knows you,” Lou’s father said. “But something inside her wants to keep trying.”

“It’s guilt. Pure and simple guilt. She screwed up and that’s hard to live with. My guess is she doesn’t really want to make any effort to get back together with me. She just wants me to absolve her. Take away her guilt. Tell her it wasn’t all her fault.”

“She wants forgiveness. That’s only human,” her mother said.