Liddie couldn’t breathe, and she couldn’t stop crying, a terrible combination. She needed to get her emotions under control, to get it together so she could explain things to Tobias before everything was permanently ruined.

“Liddie, honey, let’s go into the house.” Tobias approached her slowly, as if afraid he was going to spook her.

She sucked in a snuffling, watery breath but didn’t move, just stayed motionless with her back against the siding. She knew she needed to go inside. The nice couple across the street, who had come out into their front yard right after Candy arrived, were now watching her porch very carefully, and Liddie guessed that one of them was trying to ascertain if they should call the police or not.

“You know Candy is toxic. She’s been poisonous for years. We can talk about and work through anything, sweetheart.”

Tobias sounded so reasonable, so calm, at least now. He was just standing across from her, looking a little concerned, which was good because earlier he’d seemed very alarmed at her sudden emotional outburst. She couldn’t say she blamed him, though. She felt like a lunatic. She was pretty sure she seemed like a lunatic, cycling through at least three extreme emotions in a span of about two and a half minutes. Yeah, that would be concerning to watch.

Now Tobias was holding the door open for her, trying to guide her inside the house. Even his dogs were trying to entice her to get indoors by running back and forth across the threshold. She looked him in the eye, and all she saw was affection and concern. She took a deep breath and pushed off the wall. Tobias smiled at her, encouraging her as he herded her into the house.

Liddie walked, zombielike, into the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water from the pitcher she kept in the refrigerator. Tobias hovered around in entryway, watching her but not saying anything, as she downed the drink. She refilled her glass and drained it again, then put the used glass in the dishwasher. She knew she was stalling, putting off the inevitable. What was worse was that Tobias knew it, too, and she imagined he was going to get impatient very soon.

Hell, she was getting impatient with herself.

“Talk to me. Please.”

Tobias was leaning against the bar now, looking slightly less patient and a little irritated.

“As much as we’ve talked about things, we haven’t really talked about that night, about what happened, have we?”

Tobias’s handsome face screwed up in a frown. “That night when I found you on the dock, we did. You told me about your father shipping you off like some unwanted pet—”

“No, I mean, like, right after.” Liddie swallowed hard. She lifted a shaking hand to her head and pushed her hair back from her face.

He came to her then, gently putting his hands on her shoulders and turning her toward him. “Liddie, darlin’, whatever is going on, whatever happened then, it doesn’t matter, okay? It’s done. It’s in the past.”

She looked up at him with teary eyes. “But it’s not. It can’t ever be. As hard as I try, I can’t be finished—I can’t be done—because it’s a part of me.” She swallowed hard. “It’s a part of who I am.”

“Liddie—”

“I shouldn’t have gone with him. I should have made the sheriff take me home. I . . . I just should have done a lot of things differently.”

“Shouldn’t have gone with whom? Whom shouldn’t you have gone with?” Tobias’s voice was hushed, quiet, too still, like the moments before a tornado.

“Chet. Chet offered to take me home. His exact words were, ‘Come on, little girl. Let’s make sure you get what you deserve.’ ”

She watched the color drain from Tobias’s face. He knew. She didn’t even have to tell him what happened next, because she could tell by his expression—his broken, heartbreaking expression—that he knew without a doubt how his father had violated her.

“Liddie—” Tobias’s face crumpled, and his voice caught in his throat. “Oh God, I am . . .” He collapsed against the wall as if her words physically punched him in the gut. Then he turned to her. “Why? Why didn’t you tell me?”

She shook her head because she didn’t really know why she didn’t, couldn’t, tell him. With a grunt of frustration, Tobias punched the wall hard enough to crush the drywall. Liddie flinched when she heard the impact, though she wasn’t exactly sure why. Was it because she’d have to repair the hole in the wall? Because he might have hurt his hand? Because his anger frightened her? Maybe a combination of all those things, along with a myriad of others.

“I think maybe you need to leave, Tobias,” she half whispered.

“What?” He whipped around to look at her. “What?”

Liddie cleared her throat and spoke a little louder. “You need to go home, Tobias.”

“Do not do this, Liddie Hopewell. Don’t do this to me.” Liddie could see his jaw working, clenching and unclenching. “Don’t let him ruin this.”

Liddie felt her mouth twist into a sad smile. “He already did. A long time ago.” She swallowed hard. “Goodbye, Tobias.”

“Liddie—”

“Please?”

“We’re not done—”

“For right now we are. At least, I am.”

Tobias stood and stared at her for a long moment, then he went into the living room, scooped up his dogs, and left the house. Liddie stayed in the kitchen until she heard the crunch of tires on gravel, signaling his departure. Then she sank down to the floor and began to cry.