“Don’t worry. I’ll blow it in Final Jeopardy. So, what about Dovey?”

“He’s my boss now.”

“What? Why?”

“Beth Malone was in a car accident last night. She’ll be out for a while, and in the meantime, Dovey’s taking over Adult Prosecution.”

Joe raised an eyebrow. “As I recall, he was something of a dick.”

“Don’t sell him short—he’s a complete dick, a walking, talking asshat. And his first order of business was to call me into his office.”

“Did he…I mean…”

“Fire me? Frank doesn’t operate so bluntly. His game’s more subtle. I think I see his strategy, though. He’ll drum up some reason to fire me. Either that or he’ll force me out…lay stones on my chest until I can’t breathe anymore.”

“So…what was the first stone?”

“He reassigned me from Oscar to this woman named Andi Fitch.”

“White Collar?”

“No. Sex Crimes and Homicide.”

“That’s good though, right? That’s where you want to be.”

“Yeah, but this woman.” Lila rolled her eyes. “She’s demanding and gruff and—”

“And she doesn’t know what she’s in for,” Joe said. “She hardly sounds up to taking on the likes of Lila Nash. Someone should warn her.”

Lila cracked a smile in spite of herself. “It’s not funny. It’s just the first salvo. Who knows what he’ll do next.”

“But he won’t just fire you, right?”

“I don’t think so, not without a pretext. He’ll hold me under a magnifying glass for a while first. He’s such a—”

“Asshat?”

“Exactly.”

Joe turned toward Lila, put his arm around her, and eased her back into his chest. “Then keep being flawless,” he said.

Lila relaxed into Joe. “Maybe I should get my résumé back out there. Who knows, I might enjoy insurance defense.”

“What would we do with all that money, though? It’d ruin us.”

“I could buy you pretty things.”

“It would be kind of nice to have my own toothbrush.”

And like he always did, Joe made her laugh. “That is disgusting.”

“Anyone ever tell you you’re pretty?”

“Anyone ever tell you you’re full of crap?”

“Every day.” Joe gave her a squeeze. “It’ll be okay. You’re stronger than Frank Dovey, or this Fitch person. You’re like a…legal ninja Jedi. They want to crush you? They’re gonna need a lot bigger rocks than what they’ve got.”

Sometimes Joe spoke with the bravado of a child; at least it seemed so to Lila, the way he jumped to her defense with both feet. He made her sound eight feet tall, but the woman Lila saw in the mirror could never measure up. But then again, how could he understand what had been carved out of her all those years ago?

He didn’t see the remnants of those anxious nights in the hospital when sleep came in broken shards. He’d never heard her counting her steps. Joe saw what she wanted him to see—what she needed him to see—that version of herself that she wished were true. As much as she wanted to believe that summer was behind her, she knew it wasn’t. What happened to her would never be gone.