“I was around eleven, I think. And they didn’t say anything, just tried to act natural, and I went back outside.”

June nods her head slowly as she mulls his story over. I wonder if she’s going to try to find holes in it as well. “Did your mother know?” She finally asks.

Ezra shrugs. “She denied it was true when it came out in the papers. Said it was just malicious small-town rumors, but I overheard arguments between her and my father, and it was pretty clear that she knew and had known for some time.”

June gets up suddenly from the table and walks right through me. I absorb the confusion and anger that’s running through her veins. I also smell her, so strongly, as though I’m right up against her skin—forest and sweet sweat. I want to hold her there, but it’s a fleeting sensation and she’s across the room, leaving me empty again. She finds some open space to pace back and forth in while she processes all of it.

“I’m sorry, June. This must come as a real shock to you,” Ezra apologizes again.

June lifts a hand to bat away his words; she was never very good with other people’s sympathy. She stops pacing and leans on the counter, rubbing a hand across her forehead. I notice the fresh tan on her long fingers.

“To be honest,” she says, “the fact that they were having an affair does make it all seem more suspicious—my father disappearing without a trace and then your father disappearing once accused of something.”

Ezra sits up straighter in his chair, and I see him visibly tense up. “It does, but my dad didn’t have anything to do with your dad’s disappearance.” He gestures toward June dismissively. “And now, hearing the version your mom told you makes me think she called the police to stir up trouble to get back at my dad. That she knew all along that your dad just took off.”

“Then why did your dad run?” June says, her words instantly pitting them against each other.

Ezra picks up his glass and gulps down the rest of his wine, then stands up. “I think I should go. I’m not rehashing this bullshit again thirty years later just because you’re late to the party. My dad is innocent and always has been.”

June steps forward and puts a hand on his arm to keep him there. “I’m sorry, Ezra. Don’t go. Please. I’m just trying to understand what really happened. It all feels so crazy to me.”