I did not lock that man in the basement because you love men. I would have driven him there myself and locked him in the trunk on the way if he’d been a woman doing the same con. I don’t care who you bring home, sweetheart. I care whether they’re good to you and good for you.
That’s the only test. It was always the only test.”
Tyler was quiet for a long time.
Then he said, “The next one’s going to have to get past you first, huh.”
“The next one,” I said, “is going to have to get past both of us. Because you’re going to be a lot harder to fool now, and that’s the one gift that garbage human accidentally gave you. You’ll never hand your heart over quite so fast again. That’s sad. It’s also going to keep you safe.”
“I don’t want to be someone who can’t trust people.”
“You won’t be,” I promised. “You’ll be someone who trusts people who earn it. That’s not the same as being closed. That’s just being nineteen turning into being wise. It costs something. But it’s not the same as losing your heart. Your heart’s fine. I checked. It’s the best one I know.”
He leaned his head on my shoulder, the way he did when he was little, and we sat on the porch until it got dark.
PART 5 — FINAL
The man went to prison.
Tyler’s testimony — and the forms still in his backpack, the ones he’d been a week from signing — helped put him there, alongside the other victims who finally had the courage to come forward once someone had stopped him.
That’s the part Tyler holds onto, and I’m glad he does.
