Brandon sat at the kitchen counter looking at his phone.

One message from Brittany read: YOUR SISTER HUMILIATED ME IN FRONT OF EVERYONE.

Another read: I SAID SOME THINGS I DIDN’T MEAN.

PLEASE DON’T THROW US AWAY.

“Both might be true,” I said carefully.

He looked up.

“That’s what scares me.

If she only said those things because she was embarrassed, does that make them less real?”