“It tore me apart to do that,” Leo said quietly. “I just didn’t see another way. I was trying to protect Lily. And trying to protect you.”

“What if I didn’t need to be protected?” Joey heard herself shout. “What if what I needed was someone to tell me the house of cards my life was built on?” She wanted him to know what it had been like for her in the aftermath, really, really know, but how could he possibly understand? Those years couldn’t be distilled into sentences. And anyway, she knew now on some level that she’d needed those years to teach her how to be happy by herself. She wouldn’t have broken if she hadn’t already had so many of her own cracks.

Joey stood. A wave slapped her calves.

“Joey, I…we need to do the right thing. Lily just turned eighteen. I’ve had that date in my head since I found out, as a deadline or something. She got her childhood with Scott, but I’ve always felt like she deserved the truth. And I’ve always wanted to know my sister. So when I found out it was your wedding, and Lily was finally eighteen, I don’t know, I just leaped. Booked a trip here. Maybe it…I don’t know, when I hear it out of my mouth, it sounds impetuous and selfish. But it felt like what I needed to do. We need to tell Lily, you do agree, don’t you?” Leo reached for Joey’s hand. The one with her engagement ring. Their fingertips brushed.

Joey jerked back her hand. She was light-headed from his betrayal. And especially from her mother’s. “I have to go.”

“Joey, please. I’m sorry. I truly am. I wish I could take this pain away from you. That’s why I kept it from you all this time. Please stay, and we’ll figure all this out. Igloo seedok.” He tried a weak smile to disarm her.

“No. No secret language.” Joey backed away and started running. Her calves burned. The footsteps behind her quickened. This was always going to be the fucking scene in the movie where he caught up to her.

Leo made it astride. Joey bent over, hands to shins, panting. He wasn’t even breathing hard. “I’m staying at the Boca Beach Club.”

“I lifeguarded there in high school,” she managed as she stared into her knees.

“I know.”