“Well, I would have liked to know you got a death threat today.” Shep gave her a face and she sighed.

“You’re right. I’m sorry. I should have found a way to tell you. I wanted it to be in person, and I didn’t want to go to the high school or the house. Silly when Petal is lightning fast with gossip. I’ll tell you everything once we get settled.”

Royal washed his hands and pointed at the paper plates. “You two should eat.”

“You’re not staying?” Shep asked Royal.

“I know this is your time with your sister. I just wanted to be out of the way.”

Shep snorted. “She’s my annoying sister, but since you’re her boyfriend and she’s living with you and all, I suppose getting to know you better is a good thing.”

Caroline grinned. “See? I told you.” She opened the pizza box and hummed happily. “Yay, pizza. I need to drown my troubles in melted cheese and carbs.”

They loaded up and moved to the couch. She told Shep about all the threats and what the authorities were doing to help. He shook his head, clearly worried, but she assured him she was fine and everyone was keeping her safe.

“How can anyone deny our mom wasn’t killed by our dad at this point? Clearly this is related to the murder and your reaching out for tips in the media. The person who did it is going to do all he can to shut you up. I don’t want you to end up like her.”

Caroline swallowed hard. “I don’t want that either. I’m being as safe as I can without totally up and leaving town or traveling with armed guards. So, you believe me then? About Dad?”

He was clearly upset, but he was also a seventeen-year-old boy so he wolfed down five pieces of pizza before elaborating.

“I read everything you gave me. I did a lot of soul searching. I talked to Mr. Chase. He told me I could if I ever wanted to so I did and he’s pretty cool. He thinks you’re pretty awesome, you know?”

“Which Mr. Chase?”

“Oh yeah, whoops. Edward. I see them at church pretty often. When you first moved back, he told me if I ever wanted to talk about it he’d be happy to. I think he told Mindy that too. But.”

It hurt a great deal to imagine this distance between herself and her sister would last any length of time. She’d come to Petal to get closer and she’d finally managed to totally estrange her grandparents. She still spoke to Mindy but with Garrett crowing all over the place about how horrible Caroline was, it was uncomfortable.

“Well, do you have questions or anything?”

“Just how can I help? I feel…guilty maybe? Bad. Sad. Angry. Resentful. I’m sorry you have done this on your own all this time. I’m sorry Grandma and Grandpa are so blind to this that they’ve pushed you out of the family. Maybe a little jealous that you had them as parents all those years and I never really did.”

Caroline hugged him, kissing his cheek. “You get to feel how you feel. But I’m not mad and they wouldn’t have been mad at you either. You know what you’re told. And they never told you anything but this one thing. How could you have done anything else?”

“You did.”

“I’m fourteen years older than you. You were two when this happened. I was nearly sixteen. There’s a world of difference there. And you know, it sucks that Grandma and Grandpa are being closed off right now, but you have so much more family than you really know. They’ve wanted to see you since the murder.”

His chin jutted out just like their mother used to do, and it made her smile even as it made her sad. “Yeah? Well where have they been then?”

“They tried to see you guys, but Grandma and Grandpa fought them so hard they were worried it would hurt you worse.”

“Grandma told me they didn’t care to see us if we didn’t believe in his innocence.”

“I’m walking a really fine line, Shep. For all intents and purpose here, you’re their son.” She wanted him to know, but this was complicated and she needed to step carefully.

“I’m nearly an adult! You’re my sister. They were my parents. I deserve to know the whole truth. Why would they lie? Why would they push you and our other family away? I don’t get it.”

“Our grandparents loved our mother very much. This is a fact and I will never say otherwise. She was their golden light. A homecoming queen. She was prom queen and you know all that. Popular. Beautiful. Super smart. And here comes this guy. Our dad wasn’t any of that stuff. Well scratch that, he was really smart. He went to UCLA and graduated near the top of his class. And he came here the summer after he got his degree and ended up working at the railroad depot. He was quiet. He worked really hard and he kept his head down, but when he met Mom, nothing could keep them apart. She brought home not the captain of the football team. Not the nice boy from church. But Enrique Mendoza.”

“A common laborer.”

“Yes, I’ve heard our grandmother use that description, though after the last time she said it in front of me, she never has again. Look, I gotta tell you straight, here’s this gorgeous blonde girl from small-town Georgia and our dad, half-Mexican and half-Cuban, all dark skin comes to town. The Lassiters believe people like that belong mowing lawns and nannying kids. Certainly not getting their daughter pregnant and marrying her.”

Caroline, of the three Mendoza kids, favored her father the most. Where Shep and Mindy had their mother’s fairer complexion and lighter brown hair, Caroline’s eyes were deep brown and her hair so brunette it was black. After the funeral, her grandmother had said it was a shame that their mother was gone because everyone would simply assume she was like her dad and by that she’d meant the color of Caroline’s skin. Abigail had covered it, or had tried to anyway, especially when her grandfather heard it and had reacted to his wife angrily.