Christian raised his hands in surrender, and their no-talking policy was reinstated. His anger simmered just below the surface, his hands gripping the steering wheel, his jaw clenched tightly. Every so often, he’d let out a frustrated sigh. That sigh used to drive her crazy. She wasn’t going to let it get to her tonight. Becca leaned her head against the window, the city flashing by in a blur.

Twenty-five minutes later, Christian pulled into the driveway. Becca had never been so relieved to be home. “Thank you for the ride,” she said, wanting more than anything to not be in this car with him. He reached out to stop her.

“I know how hard all of this is on you. I really do. But lashing out at Joanne won’t bring Ash home any sooner,” he said.

So they were really going to do this. “Oh, I’m sorry. Did I hurt your girlfriend’s feelings? Excuse me, I mean your fiancée?” Becca snapped, continuing her petty streak. Christian sighed.

“I tried to tell you earlier, and you said if it wasn’t about Ash, you didn’t want to discuss it. It wasn’t like I could just blurt it out. ‘Hey, sorry your kid is missing, but I’ve got good news,’ ” he said pointedly. Becca didn’t speak.

Christian continued. “You were the one who said we couldn’t be in each other’s lives. You were the one who pushed me away. I’m sorry if this news blindsided you. I never wanted to hurt you, no matter what you may think. To answer your question, no I’m not worried about Joanne. She can handle herself. It’s you I’m worried about. You and your single-minded obsessiveness.”

Becca bristled. “Thank you so much for the analysis, Dr. Stevens.”

“There you go with your sarcasm and deflection. You think just because you spent all those years studying that you’ve got it all figured out, but you don’t. I see it. I always did. Watching you take on this job, watching how it consumed you.”

“Your job was just as important,” she interrupted.

“Not like yours. Never like that. I knew how to turn it off, to put it away. You let it worm its way in. Night and day these cases haunted you. Everyone you had to fix. Or save. The ones you couldn’t. Then everything happened with our babies…” His voice caught.

Becca’s eyes flared, a fury building inside of her. He’d never wanted to discuss it, insisting that they needed to keep moving forward. “You want to talk about it now? For months… no years… I tried to get you to open up and to be a goddamn person about the miscarriages. I wanted you to tell me what you were feeling and thinking and you just… you shut down.”