I turn back to Willa to apologize once again, but her hands cover her face while she cries. “I’m sorry,” I say to Ezra instead, as I leave the room. He doesn’t say anything or meet my eyes as I pass by.

Walking down to the boathouse, I look back and see Ezra on his knees, trying to comfort her. I take my shoes off and toss them in the boat, then sit down on the edge of the dock with my feet in the water. I feel like a complete asshole.

I’m carefully going over everything Willa said when Ezra arrives on the dock. “I know why you’re here, June.” His voice is stern and, for the first time since I’ve been back, unfriendly. “It’s wrong, what you did.”

I get to my feet. Looking at his face, I realize there’s no point in trying to play innocent here. He can see right through me. He always has. “I’m sorry, Ezra. I didn’t realize how bad it was. That I’d upset her so much.”

“How could you not? You brought up the most painful time in her life.”

“But I think she might have some answers about what happened to my father. I think it was more sinister than we thought it was.”

“Because you think my dad killed him?”

“I just wanted to know if she knew anything.”

He puts a hand up to stop me. “I think you should go, June.”

“She said that she and my mother had a deal. She would keep the secrets if my mother stayed away. Which means she knows something, Ezra.”

“She’s a senile old woman, June,” he yells, interrupting me once again. “She doesn’t even know what she ate for breakfast.”

I’ve never seen him this angry before. “Ezra, give her more credit than that.”

He crosses his arms and looks down at the ground. “Just please go. I don’t want to be around you right now.”

“But what if she does know something?”

He looks up at me, his eyes cold. “That’s my mother, June. Not just another person to use for your own benefit.”

What he says stings, but only because there’s truth to it. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what else to say. If I’d known how much it would upset her, I never would have come here.” He doesn’t say anything or look at me. “You of all people should understand the need for answers.”

He lifts his head and glares at me. “That I do, June, but I certainly wouldn’t risk someone’s well-being to get them.” His words are like a punch in the gut. He turns toward the stone cottage, crosses the backyard, and disappears inside—back to his mother.

While hastily untying the boat, I notice movement out of the corner of my eye. Glancing up at the neighbor’s yard, I spot somebody sitting in the shadows of the screened-in porch. I put a hand over my eyes to shade them so I can get a better look. I can tell from the size and shape of the person that it’s Judy. She’s close enough to have heard everything that was said between me and Ezra.