It's a small relief, at least, in the middle of all the awfulness Tara's facing. Katie would wish that on anyone else, but she knows she would have understood. Something like that, your husband beating you, it always seemed so simple on the other side of it. It used to be easy to assume she would just leave. Now, now, she knows it's not like that at all.

"Tara," she says softly, "look at me." Maybe if she can hold her focus, she can break through the pain and panic enough to help steady her. All her questions will have to wait until Tara seems calm enough to answer, but right now, Katie suspects they would only make things worse. "Listen to me. We all do things we shouldn't, okay? That doesn't make you a bad person. You're good. You help people. You don't have to be perfect. No one is."