“She isn’t wrong,” I said.

Sophie unwrapped a lemon drop slowly. “Neither are you.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means people can do the right thing for complicated reasons.” She placed the candy on her tongue. “I don’t need you to become a hero, Ethan. I need you to be honest.”

I thought about all the months I’d spent calling avoidance peace. “I was relieved when you didn’t fight the divorce,” I admitted. Sophie went very still, but I forced myself on.

“Because if you’d asked me to stay, I might have. And I was terrified that staying would mean failing again.”