I leaned farther across the table, moving my hand from hers to her forearm. “I’m sorry. About all of it. I lied, and I can’t do anything about that except to say I’m sorry.”

Amanda didn’t pull away, but she didn’t reciprocate my affection or contact either. She remained stiff in her chair, her eyes distant and distracted.

“What is it?” I asked.

She took her time, choosing her words carefully. She looked past me, not meeting my eye. “The lying,” she said. “It hurts. It really fucking hurts. How could you just look me in the eye and tell me something that wasn’t true? Even if it was just about a stupid basketball game. But it wasn’t just about a stupid basketball game, was it? It led to all of this. It put us in danger. Both of us. And Henry.”

I felt stung. I deserved it, but her words still stung. “I know.”

“Are you sure there wasn’t anything going on with you and Jennifer?” she asked. “You ended up going to her house, even after you were supposed to be done with her and her little flirtatious advances. And then she just happens to be dating Blake. It all seems so . . . I don’t know. Convenient.”

My face stung, but that time because it felt like it had been slapped. And hard. “Haven’t we settled all of that? You saw everything between the two of us. Hell, you saw whatever you wanted on my phone and computer.”

She kept looking away, but her cheeks flushed. We were a pair of red-faced lovers separated by a table-wide gulf of misunderstanding and suspicion. I pulled my hand back.

“I don’t mind talking about all of this,” I said. “But at some point, I want to move on and forget it.”

“But doesn’t all of this show that when you don’t fully deal with the past, it comes back to bite you in the ass?” She looked at me now. Straight on. “Isn’t that what we’ve been through the last couple of days?”

I couldn’t argue. No way. But the excavation felt like digging up a lost and buried city. How long would it take?

“What do you want me to do?” I asked. “Amanda, I’m facing potential legal jeopardy here. I tampered with evidence. My name is all over the news. I’m going to pay the price. And I know you and Henry will too. Of course I’m sorry for that. More than anything else.”

Amanda looked up at the clock above the sink. “I don’t know what else to say. But I should go get Henry. Mom and Dad have somewhere to be later. I said I’d pick him up. And driving will clear my head a little.”

“Let me go get him.”