“I didn’t!” Lane backed away. “I-It was Lauren. She saw Piper blowing me off and got in her face and then Piper took her shoulders and tried to say something and Lauren just pushed her away and Piper . . . she tripped or something, I’m not sure, but suddenly she’d smacked her head against the wall. Then she was on the ground and there was blood and she was unconscious. And then you came around the corner, and I was so freaked out that I sort of banged into you, I didn’t want you to see anything, and then you fell . . .” He put his face in his hands. “Ronnie, you can leave me. You can turn me in. I deserve it. I’m sorry. I just didn’t want her to get away with it anymore. And I didn’t want her to hurt you. I didn’t want you to lose Esme.” He took her hands. “Whatever happened in your past—I trust you. I’m not going to pry. Maybe it’s better I don’t know. But I know you. You’re a good person. You wouldn’t do anything unless you had a good reason. But I was afraid Piper didn’t know that. I was afraid she would hurt you. Hurt us.”

Ronnie sank to the bed. Too much had been thrust on her at once. Too many stories. And now Lane was sobbing so hard that he was crumpled against the doorframe. Esme had come up behind them, her eyes wide with concern. “Come on, come on,” Ronnie said, gesturing for Esme to climb up on the bed. Esme crawled over to her, and Ronnie held her close while Lane continued to cry.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m so, so sorry.”

“Is Daddy Lane okay?” Esme whispered.

Ronnie hugged her daughter tighter. Not because she was afraid. Her mind had sharpened. For whatever reason, she thought of a time when she was very young and had fallen on the sidewalk outside her house, getting a scrape on her knee. Back inside, her father had poured hydrogen peroxide on the wound, and once Ronnie got over the sting, she marveled at how it bubbled. “That’s the medicine working,” her father said. “It’s flushing out all the bad stuff with the scrape, and it’s going to help you heal.”

Maybe that was what had happened here. Bad stuff had been flushed out. A school’s sins were exposed. A woman was finally facing that her baby had died. Lauren was given her mind back. Andrea had found the strength to be more open with who she was, no matter the consequences. And Ronnie—well, Ronnie still had Esme, and she wasn’t scared anymore.

Lane swallowed another sob. “Seriously, though. Call the police on me. It’s okay. I deserve it. I’ve lied.”

Esme’s eyes popped wide. “Daddy Lane in trouble?”