She turned her back on him without a second thought, the same way she had when he first appeared, and looked up at me instead, her whole attention already somewhere brighter.

“Can we listen to our favorite song in the car?” she asked.

“Of course we can,” I said softly.

I understood, watching her dismiss him so completely and so innocently, that this was the truest verdict Mike would ever receive — truer than the waiver, truer than anything I had said.

He was not a villain to my daughter.

He was not even a disappointment.

He was no one.