Chapter 3

The next morning, Sophie slipped a drawing into her backpack.

Before she folded the paper, I caught sight of a golden retriever wearing a red collar.

"Whose dog is that?"

Sophie's hand froze on the zipper. "A classmate's."

She answered too quickly.

Ethan was standing at the kitchen counter, pouring himself a cup of coffee.

At my question, he turned around, his gaze pausing on the drawing for a moment.

"Mara has a golden retriever too," he said casually. "I showed Sophie a picture."

It was the first time he had ever called Mara by her first name at home.

Before, he had always called her Dr. Lewis.

"What's the dog's name?" I asked.

Sophie lowered her head and fiddled with the strap of her backpack. "I forgot."

"Buddy," Ethan answered for her.

Sophie's shoulders visibly relaxed.

I didn't press the matter. I simply straightened the collar of her coat.

Before she left, she hugged me tighter than usual.

Ethan waited until the front door closed before speaking. "You just promised yesterday that you wouldn't turn every little thing into an interrogation."

"I only asked about a dog."

"It was the way you asked."

He walked past me with his coffee, wearing an exhausted expression, as though even an ordinary conversation with me caused him immense distress.

"Don't make Sophie afraid of your questions too."

After the door closed behind him, I stood alone in the kitchen until the coffee machine fell silent.

That morning, Rachel was waiting for me at a coffee shop near the library.

I didn't tell her everything. I only said that I suspected Ethan and Mara were in contact outside our counseling sessions.

"Did you see anything with your own eyes?" she asked.

"No."

"Then why do you look so awful?"

I tightened my grip on the paper cup. "Because I saw a message that shouldn't have existed."

Rachel didn't push me to explain.

She simply placed her hand on the table, palm up.

After a moment's hesitation, I placed my hand in hers.

"If this were happening to me," she asked, "would you tell me I was being too sensitive?"

I shook my head.

"Then don't be so quick to doubt yourself for their sake."

Sophie was unusually quiet when I picked her up from school that afternoon.

When we got home, she took the drawing out of her backpack and prepared to hang it on the refrigerator.

This time, I saw the whole picture clearly.

There was a blue house, a golden retriever, and three people.

A tall man, a woman in a purple dress, and a little girl standing between them.

Beside the man, she had written Daddy.

I gently placed the drawing back on the table.

"Sweetheart, does this dog really belong to one of your classmates?"

Sophie bit her lower lip. Her eyes immediately turned red.

I crouched down until we were at eye level. "I'm not going to be angry. I just want you to tell me the truth."

"Daddy said I couldn't tell you."

It felt as though something were slowly crushing my chest.

"Why?"

"He said Dr. Lewis is helping our family," she whispered. "Sometimes Daddy takes me to her house. She has a swing, and Buddy puts his ball at my feet."

"How many times have you been there?"

She held up four fingers, then uncertainly lowered one.

"Was Dr. Lewis there too?"

Sophie nodded, and tears fell onto her dress.

"Daddy said it was a surprise for you. He said if you found out, you'd start overthinking again and get sick."

I almost lost my balance.

In my daughter's eyes, I was a sick woman the entire family had to tiptoe around and protect.

"Mommy, did I do something wrong?"

"No."

I pulled her into my arms.

Sophie cried so quietly, as though she were afraid someone might hear even that.

"The adults should never have asked you to keep a secret like this."

At that moment, the garage door slowly began to rise.

Ethan was home.

Sophie immediately wiped away her tears. As I listened to his footsteps drawing closer, I finally understood what Mara's message truly meant.

They weren't merely betraying me.

They had taught my daughter how to help them deceive me.