Jodi was starving. She took out the almonds and protein bar, thinking about what had just happened. Maybe she’d fallen and bumped her head. But she didn’t really believe that was all of it.

Jodi realized that she had been keeping secrets as much as their mom had. Only she’d been keeping the secret from herself—that she did know things—things she didn’t always want to know. But other things, too. Like that their step-mother was really trying very hard to make the best of the unexpected expansion of her family. She wanted to be there for she and Stacy, she just didn’t know how.

Even Dr. Mitchell was trying to help her. But she would have to tell him at their next session that she was done with the pills. She didn’t want to feel flat anymore. That scared her.

And Stacy. Really, Jodi was jealous of her little sister’s ability to navigate all of this horror much better than she was. She could learn from her.