It’s impossible to miss the coldness in my voice because this is something I will never talk about, and it reminds me why staying in Winter Lake is not an option.

So, I’ll stick around for the three days as I said I would, but I’ll have to be careful about what I say going forward because Mack isn’t my friend and Winter Lake isn’t my home.

“That’s fine,” Mack says, in his easy confident way, as if I haven’t just completely shut him down. “Finish your breakfast and I’ll ...