Gen looked over at him. Amanda didn’t.
“What?” Gen asked.
Zeke turned to his sister, and then his brother. “Exactly how Lee fell in the dark and killed Grayboy and landed herself in surgery.”
“Grayboy?” Gen demanded, whirling on Jake. “Grayboy’s dead? My God, Jake, what happened?”
Amanda couldn’t draw breath. She couldn’t move or think. Jake hummed next to her like a tuning fork. She couldn’t bear anymore. She simply couldn’t. If this had to go on again and again, she couldn’t do it.
“It was a freak accident,” she said, anyway, instinctively fulfilling the function she’d had all those years ago.
But before she could finish constructing her lie, Jake turned on her. “No,” he disagreed, determination flickering amidst the wasteland of his grief and guilt. “It wasn’t a freak accident.”
“Jake,” Amanda protested instinctively, knowing what he was going to do, what it would cost. Knowing how little he could afford it right now.
“What was it?” Gen asked.
Jake wrapped his fingers around Amanda’s and turned back to his family. And Amanda, sudden tears blinding her, held her breath.
