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“They told you that?” she asked, clearly horrified

“They didn’t have to” He saw it in their faces when he found them They asked no questions about hione “But when you talked aboutin, I knew I had to find them and answer some questions”

“Did they give you any answers?”

“No” He regretted looking for his mom and stepfather

Angie was quiet for a few , “Where do they live?”

“Across the country Virginia” He shifted as the ie of his mom’s new home bloomed in his mind It was tiny but well-loved It was a house he would have been grateful to grow up in “They’re doing better than when I lived with them”

“I can’t believe your parents didn’t look after you” Angie curled in closer She wrapped her arm around his chest “They messed up Not you What mother would do that?”

“My mother never wanted me I was an accident” She had ranted about it so ical father abandoned thenant How no e How he had better not ed the course of her life”

“You’re not a ainst his shoulder “When your parents left you to fend for yourself? That’s a mistake That’s a crime”

“I survived” Barely There were ti He had been determined to show his parents that he could take care of himself He had carried the fantasy that his parents would eventually coiveness

“Why didn’t you tell ie asked “You didn’t need to keep it a secret”

“All this ti anyone But I rong They were incapable of lovingwith me”

She pressed her hand against his chest “That’s not true Don’t ever think that”

“It is true I know because when I tracked them down, my mother was stillwell” The pain tightened his throat and it hurt to tell the rest of the story “And they had more children”