“Can we talk?” Lila’s tone made clear that bad news lurked behind the request.

“Of course, honey.” Charlotte stepped aside to let Lila in. “Is everything okay?”

Lila took a seat on the couch. Charlotte sat on a chair across from her, apparently sensing that some distance between them was warranted. Despite having practiced her lines on the drive there, Lila struggled to start the conversation.

“Mom, I’m going to ask you an important question, and I want you to give me an honest answer.”

Charlotte nodded. “Okay.”

“Do you know what happened to me…that night in Uptown?”

“Oh, honey, why are you stirring that up again?”

Lila kept her tone flat as she repeated her question. “Do you know what they did to me?”

“Do you always have to bring that up? Can’t we—”

“I’ve never brought it up. When have we ever talked about this?”

“It was a long time ago.”

“That doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. It’s still there. You understand that, don’t you?”

“It’s there because you never tried to move on. How can you get past something if you hold on to it like that?”

“I’m not holding on to it, Mom.” Lila couldn’t stop her voice from growing louder. “For Christ’s sake, it holds on to me. Don’t you understand that?” Lila closed her eyes and took a breath to calm down. “I can’t move on unless I face what happened to me.”

“Wasn’t that the point of all that therapy? Where did that get you? It’s like all he did was make it worse.”

“Is that why you stopped my sessions with Dr. Roberts?”

“I never stopped—” Charlotte saw the look in Lila’s eyes and didn’t finish her sentence.

“I saw the letter. You forged my signature. Why would you do that?”

“For goodness’ sakes, Lila—what good can it do to bring all this up again?”

“I deserve an answer. Why did you stop my therapy sessions?”

“All he was doing was rehashing it over and over. A wound can’t heal if you keep jabbing it like that. And look at you now. Look how you turned out. You went to law school, and you have Joe.”

“Dr. Roberts was helping me.”

“No, he wasn’t. He had you all mixed up. And they always blame the mother. One way or another, it’s always the mother. I have no doubt that that’s why he wanted me to come in. I was a good mom. I loved you. I tried—”

“Wait. Dr. Roberts wanted you…to come in?”

Charlotte looked down at her fingers and didn’t answer.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I know how these things work. I wasn’t about to sit there and let him blame me for what happened to you. I did my best.”

“You stopped my sessions because you didn’t want to talk about it?”

“You were better. I could see it. You didn’t need—”

“I wasn’t better!” Lila yelled, causing her mother to flinch.

Lila had never before wanted to hit her mother, and the urge scared her. She clenched her hands into fists and squeezed, her teeth gritted, her eyes pinched shut. Then she took in a slow breath. “You didn’t answer my question, Mom.”