He regarded her, keeping his expression closed off. It was hard to tell what he was thinking, now that his face was completely covered in bushy dark hair, and his bangs hung in his eyes.

I will always love your mother, Dre. It’s not something that will ever go away.

Hugging herself tightly, she tried to breathe past the stiffness in her lungs. At least he was talking to her again. She wasn’t sure if she preferred the silent treatment, but she tried to believe that this would be better in the long term.

“Do you understand that you utterly, utterly broke me? I trusted you. I loved you, I poured my dreams and my fears into you.”

Nothing made her angrier than insinuations that she had feelings for him. Since it was such a laughable idea. But instead of the blazing anger he had braced for, she seemed to scrutinize him.

Reluctantly, Ben tore his eyes from the doorway, then heaved himself off the ground and went to Lanie. Instantly, she was surrounded by the cloud of his stink. He reeked of alcohol and body odour. She wondered if the babies stunk now, too.

A blind, all-consuming, homicidal rage cast the bleakest of black shadows in his soul.

He was there for her after she went home. For a while, her old friends from church, including Lilah, were, “So sorry,” and wondered, “Why didn’t you just call me?”

The familiar sense of anger, confoundment, and betrayal rose up in him again, but he forced himself to focus on his goal.

At first, he felt nothing. It was peculiar. Usually, he felt so many things that he couldn’t number or contain them.