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“Addy wrote it in one of her letters.”

Addy.

I close my eyes.

“Mae's sister.”

“Sage called her Aunt Addy.”

“They raised her together?”

“Yes.”

The tears come before I can stop them.

I turn toward the window.

I shouldn't cry.

Not again.

I've cried enough for one lifetime.

Sean doesn't touch me.

I'm grateful.

And some small, foolish part of me wishes he would.

I hate that part.

I don't know this man.

Not really.

The boy I loved is buried somewhere inside him, but eighteen years happened between us.

I had an entire life he never saw.

He had one I know nothing about.

We can't erase that because we found each other in a mine.

“What was her childhood like?”

Sean is quiet for a moment.

“I only know what Sage told us.”

I turn back.

“Tell me.”

“Mae and Addy baked.”

Despite myself, I smile.

“Mae baked?”