‘What? What do you mean that you think you knew? You either knew or you didn’t. Which is it?’ Another person I loved and trusted who had kept this from me. It couldn’t be true.

‘Just let me tell you the whole story, then you can yell at me.’ Andie waited until I gritted my teeth and nodded. She took in a deep, shaky breath. ‘Remember when I was eight years old and we moved to the McCadden Street house? Well, when I was helping Mom unpack a box of photos in our new living room, I came across a loose photo of your parents holding you as a baby with a banner behind them that said, “Happy Adoption Day!” I knew it had to be you in their arms but I didn’t understand the banner. I showed it to my mom and she looked panicked. Finally, she said something about that being the day they adopted your cat Millie. At the time, I believed it, so I never said anything to you about it. My mom just stuffed it back in a box after that and I never saw it again.’

My shoulders relaxed and I unclenched my jaw. ‘Andie you were a kid, if that’s what your mom told you, then of course you’d believe her. Why would I be mad at that?’ I softened, realizing Andie hadn’t purposefully kept this secret from me the way my parents had. Relief washed over me. I didn’t think I could cope with all of this if I lost trust in Andie, too. Then, another thought crept in. I narrowed my eyes at her. ‘But that’s not all of it, is it? You wouldn’t feel so guilty if that was all this was. What else are you hiding, Andie?’

Andie puffed out her cheeks and looked off to the side, exhaling loudly. ‘I did believe my mom in that moment. But something about the photo didn’t feel right and it kept nagging at me. So, eventually I did the math. My mom’s explanation didn’t make sense, because if you were a baby on Millie’s adoption day, then you and Millie would be about the same age since your parents got her as a kitten. But I knew you weren’t the same age, because we’d given Millie that lame third birthday party in your backyard when you were six and I was seven, remember?’

Andie and I had thrown together a makeshift party, with cupcakes formed from a mixture of wet and dry cat food. We’d stationed our stuffed animals around the plastic kids’ table in the backyard and sprinkled confetti all over them. We even got Millie to wear a paper cone birthday hat. ‘Okay, yeah, but why didn’t you tell me then? You’d obviously figured it out.’