Sherri sipped her drink and then said, “Just like that? You left?”

“Just like that. I mean, there was all kinds of legal crap we had to deal with later, lawyers and mediations and the whole bit, but the night we left was the last night we were all three under the same roof. I got full custody of Alexa, and that was it.”

“That was it completely? You don’t even talk to him anymore?”

Rebecca held her hand out in front of her. In the moonlight it looked pale and ephemeral, the hand of a ghost. “Well. Yes and no. He got in touch last year. He wrote me a letter, wanting to see Alexa. Claims to be sober now.”

“What’d you do? What’d you say?”

“I didn’t say anything. I didn’t answer him. I pretended I never got it. I never told Alexa! That’s terrible, right? But he has such a history of disappointing Alexa, when we were together he used to let her down constantly, even though she was so small he didn’t think she noticed or remembered. But I think she did notice. And this was just a couple of months after Peter died. We were all so fragile.” She squinted at Sherri. “You’re the first person I’ve told about that. Do you think I’m awful?”

Sherri snorted in a friendly way, if a snort can be said to be friendly. “My bar for awful is set pretty high,” she said. “So: no. I don’t think that’s awful. I think you did what you had to do.”

“By law he’s allowed to contact her directly once she turns eighteen, which will be in September. I don’t know if he will or not. But at some point I need to have a conversation with her about him.” She turned her head to face Sherri more fully. “See? I’m sure you have nothing quite that bad.”

Sherri held out her glass and said, “Can I have just a smidge more tequila?”

“Of course.” Rebecca wondered if she’d gone too far. “I’m sorry I spilled all that. But it felt good to say it. I never talk about that part of my life. Everybody here seems so perfect, and obviously they’re not, not on the inside, nobody is, but I never feel comfortable sharing this part of my past. It seems sort of shameful and sordid in the context of everybody else. You know what I mean?”

Sherri’s answer could have been mistaken for a breath, it was so soft: “I know.”

Rebecca shifted and turned to face Sherri more fully. “But how about you? What about your ex? Katie’s father? How much is he still in your lives?”