When it’s time for bed, I close the door and slip in with Dylan. “Good night,” I say to Dylan, and by the time I turn to face him, he is softly snoring. I don’t know what time I fall asleep, but I hear the door open and then close, and I know that Andrew has gone. Walking out to the living room, I find the couch empty and go to the door and lock it behind him.

I don’t sleep the rest of the night. I toss and turn, and when my alarm goes off the next morning, I drag myself out of bed. The thick air in the room is making it unbearable. “I’m going to take a shower,” I tell Dylan, who just grumbles and turns to go back to sleep. I walk to the bathroom, not bothering to turn on the light and step under the cool water. With my eyes closed, I think about the only thing I have been thinking about all night. Justin. His face, the hurt in his eyes, the way my chest hurt when he walked away. I put up walls for this reason. I put up walls so I don’t have this pain anymore.

I get out and dry myself off, ignoring the voices in my head telling me he’s different. I know he is. He comes from a great family, and he is going to make some woman very, very happy. I slip my shorts back on, and when I open the door, I stop in my tracks when I find Dylan standing there with tears running down his face. “He took it,” he says between sobs and hitched breaths. He’s holding the hockey bag, and all the new equipment is gone. “He took it all.”

A hand goes to my mouth as I watch my son’s world shatter. “Honey, I’m sure he’ll bring it back,” I say, knowing full well that I am lying to him. It’s gone; it’s all gone. “Why don’t you put on what you were wearing yesterday, and you can take your other equipment for the day? I’ll drive around and see if I can find your dad.”

“Justin gave me all that stuff,” he says, sitting down now. “It was all new.” I walk to him and sit next to him as he cries in my arms. I thought I hated Andrew before, but I was wrong. This right here is the last straw. I’m done trying to be the good person, and I’m done trying to pretend that everything is fine in front of Dylan. I never wanted him to know about his father and the demons that he had, but I can’t hide him from it anymore. I can shield him as much as I can, but I refuse to have Dylan hurt this way again.