The front door swings open, and my mom’s distinct laugh rings through the house before it’s suddenly cut off.

Aiden and I jump a foot apart on the couch, my heart racing frantically as I rearrange my clothes and make sure my hair doesn’t scream that we were making out. Why does Mom need to be home right now of all times?

As we glance into the hallway, toward the front door, my jaw drops to the floor. My mom is aggressively kissing Mason’s dad as she hops around and throws her heels haphazardly onto the floor. Mason’s dad just pulled my mom’s shirt off.

I’m going to puke.

Jumping up, I run into the hallway, making my presence known. “Mom!”

Brian Evans and my mom jump apart in surprise and stare at me, both breathless from earlier.

Gross.

“Oh . . . Amelia. Shouldn’t you be in school?” Mom asks, reaching down to find her discarded shirt on the floor.

Aiden comes to stand beside me, his expression neutral and not giving anything away, and I’ve never been as envious of his ability to hide his emotions as I am right now. My shock and horror are definitely written all over my face.

Aiden and I both know about my mom and Mason’s married dad, but they don’t know that we know. And we certainly haven’t ever witnessed them groping each other. That’s something I never, ever, ever want to see again. Ever.

Mom pulls her shirt back on and looks pointedly at us. “You skipped school to fool around with your boyfriend?”

“I’m not the one with my shirt off.” I provoke her with narrowed eyes.

“School ended about twenty minutes ago.” Aiden tries to smooth over the situation, but his steely eyes are locked on Mason’s dad. Brian took Aiden and his brothers in. He’s known Aiden for years. I wonder if he feels guilty now that Aiden, his son’s best friend, knows about his infidelity to his wife, who, from what I can tell from my only interaction with her before our vacation, is one of the sweetest women I’ve ever met. I try to fix my face to be neutral like Aiden’s.

“Yes, he’s right, Caroline. Time must have gotten away from us,” Brian says, adjusting his blazer and addressing my mom by her fake name, the one they gave her when I became Amelia.

Brian is a good-looking man, like an older version of Mason, with tanned olive skin and dark hair. I’d be proud of my mom if not for the fact that he’s married. He’s literally still wearing his wedding band as he’s cheating on his wife, the mother of one of my best friends.

“Listen kids,” Brian says, “I’m sorry you had to find out like this, but it’s complicated, more so than it may seem. Sometimes things just happen, and they need to be kept a secret for a reason. We wouldn’t want to start a lot more trouble for everyone unnecessarily, would we?”