“He once called Owen Atlas through an entire diaper change.”
She smiled.
Not exactly Ethan’s smile.
But close enough that I saw him in it.
Then she reached into her backpack.
“I made another picture.”
Lauren touched her arm.
“Mia, you don’t have to.”
“It’s okay,” I said.
Mia looked at me.
“Mom said maybe I should wait.”
“You can show me.”
She handed me the paper.
There were two babies wrapped in crooked blue blankets.
Above them, she had written:
MY BROTHERS.
I looked at Mia.
She had not created this lie.
She had been living inside it too.