I sat on the couch, the silence between Sophie and me heavy, each of us lost in our own thoughts. I could feel her eyes on me, waiting for me to say something. My fingers fidgeted with the hem of my shirt as I avoided looking at her, feeling the weight of everything pressing down on me. I wasn’t sure how to put the words together—how to tell her what had been eating away at me for so long.

Finally, Sophie spoke, breaking the tension. “You’re not okay, Vic. I know that. What’s going on? You can’t keep pretending everything’s fine.”

I swallowed hard, feeling the familiar knot in my...