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“‘Headphones, dick,’ isn’t actually the same thing as ‘don’t eavesdrop,’” Sawyer replied, still killing monsters on-screen. Theo rolled his eyes and was about to turn back to his essay when Sawyer held out a second controller. “Wanna play for a bit?” he offered, and when Theo hesitated, he sighed. “Your essay needs to simmer a bit, right? Just take a break, kill some shit, and go back to it.”

He had a point. Theo had been getting increasingly worse at writing it as the evening went on. It was probably better to drink some pop and wait for the caffeine to hit, and he would have to do something while that happened. Wordlessly he took the controller and rolled his desk chair over next to Sawyer’s thronelike recliner.

Sawyer sent him a crooked smile, nodded, and that was it.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Avery

Avery grabbed her jacket off the hook near the garage door and tossed a look toward her mom, who was sitting on the living room couch reading something on her phone. Avery had arrived home for Christmas break the night before, having hitched a ride with a girl from her floor who lived over near Mille Lacs. It had been awkward, and nowhere near as fun as driving with Theo would have been if things hadn’t gotten so messed up. “Going to meet everyone for coffee,” she called.

Kelly hummed in response, but didn’t say much. She had seemed quiet on the drive back from Mille Lacs last night too, and Avery suspected it had something to do with what she found on Kelly’s phone when she was looking for Aunt Jenn’s new phone number that morning. Avery hadn’t mentioned it to her mom yet, mostly because she wasn’t sure how she felt about that information.

Avery felt similarly quiet when she pulled into Itasca Perk. She had texted Grace on the drive back and suggested this meeting—and it did feel like a meeting, all stilted and formal, and not their usual hang—while her mom was preoccupied with a podcast about cults. Avery wasn’t quite sure what she was going to say to her friends, or even why she suggested it in the first place, but Grace had agreed and within ten minutes texted back to say everyone else was on board too.

But now she was here, and she felt sort of like throwing up. Avery didn’t like apologizing under normal circumstances, much less such life-blowing-up ones as their previous incident. She considered bolting, but Tommy’s and Harper’s cars were already in the parking lot, and if she knew her friends, they were already looking out the window at her.

Avery steeled herself and went inside. Grace, Harper, and Tommy were sitting near the fireplace in the corner, with four mugs in front of them. Avery knew a peace offering when she saw one, and smiled shyly. She had had fights with her friends before but always individually, and not anything like this.

“Hey,” she said, dropping into an armchair and setting her purse on the floor. “Thanks for agreeing to this. And for the coffee.”

Grace nodded, but Tommy looked wary and Harper still looked pissed. “Well?” Harper said after an uncomfortably long moment of silence.

“I think I need to explain myself,” Avery started. She shifted in her seat and stared down into the mocha Tommy had ordered for her. (It had to be Tommy, he was the only one of them who drank mochas and kept trying to get everyone else on board, often against their will.) She took a deep breath and glanced up just long enough to see Grace and Harper exchange an inscrutable look. “My parents—” she started, and then stopped, looking over both her shoulders to make sure no one was within earshot. No one was, but just in case, she lowered her voice to a whisper, which caused all three of her friends to lean in. “My dad has been lying to my mom for a long time, and I think they’re going to get divorced.”

“Holy shit,” Tommy said, the first to recover. “Since when?”

“I don’t know, but he’s cheated on her at least twice that I know of in the last few years.”

“And the divorce thing?” Grace asked quietly. Avery appreciated that she was keeping it discreet, given Itasca’s overactive rumor mill.

Avery inhaled, once more gathering up her courage. “There’s a divorce attorney in her phone.”

“How do you know?” Grace replied.

“I was looking for something in Mom’s phone, and her most recent call was to a number that wasn’t saved. I looked it up, and it’s a divorce attorney out of Bemidji.”

“How long was the call?” Tommy asked.

“An hour. And she’d called it twice before, both calls for a long time.”

Tommy sucked in a breath and glanced at Grace, who seemed troubled. “Shit, I’m sorry,” Grace said.

But Harper—sweet, always happy, forgiving Harper—didn’t look sympathetic. “I mean, that sucks and all, but no offense, how is this an apology?”

“Hear her out,” Grace urged.

“Not unless she gets to the actual apologizing part first.”

Avery swallowed a sip of mocha. It was too sweet, but she wasn’t going to throw it in Tommy’s face, not when she was in desperate need of allies. “I’m sorry for yelling at you, and for accusing you guys of lying,” she said, doing her best to keep eye contact with Harper. It hurt to see her friend looking so suspicious, but she also knew she’d earned it. “I swear, the stuff about my parents is related. I’m not just asking for sympathy. I’m trying to explain why I overreacted.”

“So you admit it was an overreaction?” Harper asked, arms crossed.

Avery’s instinct was to argue, but she made herself nod. “It was.” She waited for Harper to challenge her, and when she stayed quiet, Avery continued. “I overreacted because my parents have been keeping secrets from each other and from me for a long time, and I didn’t even realize that was why I was so harsh about lying for so long.”

“And?” Harper pushed.

“And I’m sorry. It wasn’t fair to you guys.”