“Vanessa has been telling everyone you asked your father not to walk you because you wanted attention.”

I felt the familiar urge to hurry from table to table correcting the story.

That urge was part of the old trap.

Vanessa created a rumor, I exhausted myself disproving it, and my parents called us both dramatic.

“Did you believe her?” I asked.

“No.

I know your father.

And I know you.”