I swallowed as Griffin and Will faced off in some sort of silent battle of wills. I wasn’t sure if I should step in or wait them out. But after a few seconds that felt more like an hour, Will backed down. All the tension went out of his shoulders, and his head slumped. “I’m sorry. It’s just…I know something’s up.” He turned to me. “You’ve been tweaked the last couple of days. And you’re never late on the days you pick us up. I just want to know what’s going on.”

I pulled Will into a hard hug. My guy was too dang insightful for me to hide anything from him. “You’re right. And I always planned on telling you. I was just looking for the right time. Things have been crazy the past few days, and—”

“And you didn’t want to tell me whatever this is,” Will finished for me.

It wasn’t that exactly. Not in the way Will thought, anyway. I didn’t want to burden him with what our mom being out of prison might bring up. “It’s not because I don’t think you can handle it. It’s because I don’t want you to have to.”

He nodded slowly. “I get that.”

He got it because he felt the same way about Ava and Mia. He would do anything to protect and shield those girls. I straightened my shoulders as if that would help me brace for the blow I was about to deliver. “Mom got released from prison early. She’s out on parole.”

“What? It’s only been like six years.”

“I know. I guess she’s been a model prisoner. I’m sorry, Will.”

A muscle in his cheek ticked. “You have nothing to be sorry for. She does. Except, apparently, she doesn’t have to pay for it.”

I gripped Will’s arms. “She’ll pay for it every day for the rest of her life because she doesn’t get you or Ava or Mia. She’s missing out on the greatest gift she was ever given.”

Will’s eyes reddened as he clenched his jaw even tighter, trying to hold back tears. “She deserves more.”

“She does. But we know that the world isn’t always fair.” I hated that it was a lesson we’d both learned at way too young an age. I wished we’d both gotten way more years where the only things we had to worry about were what toys we wanted or if we could go play with our friends. But that wasn’t the case.

Will’s eyes flared. “Did she show up at the store today? Is that why you were late?”