My heart slammed against my ribs like it wanted out of my chest the second Dad killed the engine in the very last row of the  Drive-In. The neon marquee behind us flickered pink and blue across the windshield—Double Feature: Rebel Without a Cause & Giant—but all I could focus on was the way the truck’s leather seat creaked under us as he turned toward me in the dark. Mom was three states away at some corporate retreat until Sunday night, and this whole “father-daughter bonding night” had been his idea. Classic movies, greasy burgers, just the two of us under the stars. Innocent. Sweet.

Except nothing about the way...