I told James my mother had fallen ill.

It wasn’t even hard. He was still mad from the argument we had, still caught up in his own storm of suspicions and anger, and he barely looked at me when I mentioned it. He just waved me off like I was furniture moving itself out of the way. That hurt, but it also gave me the freedom I needed. If he didn’t care whether I stayed or left, then he wouldn’t care about where I was going.

And I knew exactly where I was going.

So I packed my things for the boat cruise and went to Jessica’s place.

When I...