“I mean she’s team Whitney, you know that. So even if Whitney was dating Satan himself, Chloe would try for her, but no he’s not high on her list of favorite people.”

“You and Miche aren’t fans either, right? I know you were being diplomatic for Whitney’s sake yesterday but what’s the problem?”

“It’s just what I said. He’s aloof and quiet and standoffish. A little judgmental. I just don’t think they’re a good match. Mason has told him off a few times but you know Mase’s temper. None of us are huge fans, but he seems to make her happy so we are trying, you know?

“Mmmhm,” I say as I crack my beer and take a long sip.

“Especially after what happened three years ago.”

My blood runs cold hearing him reference what I assume to be the aftermath of our breakup. “Three years ago?”

“Yeah, you don’t remember?” He frowns and scratches his head as if he’s trying to recall the timeline and where I fall into it. “Oh no, I think you had just left for Mexico,” he says and I pray he doesn’t make the connection having said those words out loud for maybe the first time.

Hindsight being 20/20 and all.

But he doesn’t flinch. “I don’t know if it was COVID and not being able to return to college that semester because of lockdown or what but Whitney went through what I can only assume to be a period of depression. She wasn’t eating or she’d eat everything in sight to the point she made herself sick. She’d stay up for days at a time and then crash and sleep for two days. We thought it was cabin fever but she was crying all the time. She never stopped. I begged her to talk to me, to Michelle, to a therapist, anyone. That just made her cry harder. Chloe seemed to help so she kind of moved in for a while. But it was hard. Seeing your child go through hell and not know how to stop it. Or what was even causing it. This went on for probably a year. Once restrictions kind of lifted and she and Chloe were able to at least go out a little bit, that did seem to help and then shortly after she met Parker. To this day, we don’t know what happened and she won’t talk about it. At one point, Michelle and I had a theory that maybe she was seeing someone and something happened but for her to be acting that way it must have been serious and I can’t see her being serious with anyone and not telling us.”

I knew parts of this through Trey and from what Whitney told me herself but seeing it through her father’s eyes who also happens to be my best friend is different.