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Josie felt like someone had reached inside her chest cavity and yanked her heart out. Given the look of utter devastation on her husband’s face as their eyes met again over top of Wren’s head, he felt the same. She wanted to pull Wren into her arms and comfort her. Say all kinds of things. Reassure her. But they had to tread carefully. This was as close as they’d ever come to getting some real honesty from her.

“The custody thing is the lie,” Josie said. “I loved your dad, but it was kind of a dick move giving you to people you’d never even met.”

Wren made a small noise that may or may not have been a laugh. She pressed the pad of her thumb into the corner of her notebook until it made an indent in her skin.

Noah cleared his throat. “My turn. One: my dad left my mom on my eighteenth birthday so he could go off and start a new family. Two: I never ever wonder why he chose his new kids over me and my siblings. Three: the day of the fire I screwed up, too, by not being there for you, and I’m sorry.”

Wren’s mouth dropped open in shock. Her head swiveled in Noah’s direction. “Are you… are you serious?”

Noah smiled at her and Josie could tell he was forcing the playfulness into it, trying to keep things from getting so heavy that Wren shut down again. “Need me to repeat them? Or you don’t think you can win this round?”

“I… no, you don’t have to repeat them. It’s just that your dad—wow. Number two is the lie.”

The way her gaze lingered on Noah, Josie could tell she was dying to ask more questions. But this was about her, not them.

Josie shifted her hips, trying to find a more comfortable position on the rock. “My turn again. One. I’m secretly a culinary genius but I pretend to be terrible so I never have to cook. Two. You’re the best thing that ever happened to me and Noah. Three. We both love you but if we tell you now, you’ll think we’re only saying it to make you feel better.”

Wren stared at her. Without hesitation, she said, “It’s the love thing. That’s the lie.”

Josie was going to make a joke about Wren thinking she was a secret master chef, but Noah spoke first. “You don’t think we could love you? Why? Why’s that so unbelievable?”

Wren hugged her notebook more tightly and drew her knees up to her chest. “You don’t even know me.”

Josie said, “I don’t know about that. I think we know enough to confidently say we love you. We know that you’re kind and funny.”

“Smart and compassionate,” Noah put in. “Thoughtful.”

“We know you’re a good person,” Josie said.

Wren rolled her eyes. “You haven’t even seen my bad side. You wouldn’t love me then.”

“Fine,” said Noah. “Let’s hear it. Tell us the adventures of Evil Wren. Two truths and a lie. Josie and I will see if we can figure out the lie.”

Wren glanced back and forth between them again. Hesitantly, she spoke, her voice small, “One. I kicked a puppy once. Two. These girls at my old school used to tease me because my dad was disfigured so I stole their phones out of their backpacks and threw them into the dumpster behind school. Three. I felt embarrassed about my dad’s face even though he was the best dad ever.”

“You’d never kick a puppy,” Noah murmured. “That’s the lie.”

Wren nodded. Tears tracked slowly down her face, and Josie couldn’t take another second of witnessing her pain without trying to comfort her. She knew she made the right decision when she put her arm around Wren’s shoulders and she turned into the embrace. Josie wrapped her up in both arms, holding her tightly. It was the first time she’d ever hugged the girl, she realized, and that made her want to cry just as much as Wren’s revelations had. Eight long months. Wren had gone eight months without a proper hug. Sure, she’d exchanged them with Shannon and Christian. Trinity. Little Harris. But those had been quick and perfunctory. She was still a child in so many ways. Josie knew they had done the right thing by not trying to force any affection on her, by letting her come to them, but it still broke her heart that it had taken this long.

Josie kissed the top of her head as she cried into Josie’s shirt. “And now my dad’s dead,” she sobbed. “I was embarrassed by the way he looked even though it wasn’t his fault that someone hurt him and made him look like that. All he ever did was love me and be a good dad, and I wished he was normal-looking so I wouldn’t get bullied and now I’ll never see him again.”

She stopped to suck in a deep breath. Her entire body shook in Josie’s arms. “Maybe that’s what I deserve for being such a terrible person.”

Josie didn’t think her heart could break any more for this girl but there it went, shattering to pieces. Noah scooted over and wrapped his arms around them both. It was awkward and far too hot for a group hug, but it felt right. Wren let them hold her while she wept and trembled and wailed.

“Let it out,” Josie whispered into her hair. “Let it all out.”

“We’re here,” Noah told her. “We’re not going anywhere.”

It made her cry harder, but she released her sketchbook and fisted Josie’s shirt, twisting the fabric like she could use it to take out all the anger running beneath her sadness and grief. Or maybe she was just hanging on, hoping the monster wave of emotions didn’t carry her away.

Josie had no idea how much time passed before Wren finally calmed down, her sobs turning to hiccups and her body sagging between theirs like every last bit of energy had been wrung from her. With her face still buried in Josie’s shirt, she mumbled, “I don’t have any tissues. There’s snot all over you.”

Josie laughed. “Do you have any idea how many times Harris left snot on one of my shirts? This is nothing.”

“Snot’s way better than vomit.” Noah reached into his pocket and dug out a tissue. He held it out so Wren could take it. “I’ve only got one.”

“Thank you,” she said.