They walk, single file, and head—of all places—to Tom Winter’s.
Gael is waiting with Barbara and Tom. He looks shell-shocked when she walks into the kitchen, and she pulls him close to her. She smells him. She feels his skinny body in her arms. And she lets herself cry, something that shocks them both because he has never seen her do it. Barbara must have told him some things, but not all, because he has no questions. She is sure there will be, but not tonight. Tom’s house isn’t perfectly clean, but it’s clear Barbara’s been at work because it’s not at all like the last time they were here. Four steaming mugs sit on the tidied table—one for each of them and one for Gael. It’s like she knew exactly when they were coming. Hot chocolate, because of course it’s hot chocolate. She’s a hot chocolate kind of mom and always will be.
Barbara agrees to be their alibi right then and there, so if anyone is curious about their whereabouts, they’ll be cleared. Gael nods along, as if to say he’ll vouch for her too. Elena should be worried that he is caught up in a lie now that he knows nothing about. But she is not worried. In fact, she is certain the spell is so good it will fool everyone. This town has been duped by an illusion spell before, and no one, except Joey, ever gave it a second thought. It is perfect magic.
Tom is here too. He sits in a corner with a splotchy face. He hiccups a thank-you through his tears because Barbara has told him what happened to Quinn—glossing over some of the more inexplicableelements. It hits Elena that they still don’t really know exactly how Quinn died. They’ll probably never know.
At some point, Barbara drives them to her house, where Gael dives into his sofa and passes out. Elena, Joey, and Sophie trudge into Quinn’s room. They chat for hours. Around two, Elena sneaks chocolate chip cookies and a bottle of whiskey from the kitchen. Then, much later than they should, they squeeze into Quinn’s bed and under her covers. Their bodies curl into each other. Their breaths in sync and steady, and eventually, eventually, they fall asleep.
73Sophie
“Mama.”
Sophie nearly bursts into tears when she sees Leah on the screen. She’s lying facedown on her childhood bed with her feet kicked up behind her, like she’s a teenager. Leah’s little face lights up when she sees Sophie, and she starts babbling nonsense, but very seriously, like she has something critical to share with her mother who’s been gone. Talia is there too. She’s holding the phone and turns it around for a second.
“Hey, love. All good here,” she says. Her hair is a mess, and she’s wearing Sophie’s sweater with an indistinguishable green stain. She looks about as unkempt as Sophie has ever seen her, and she swells with gratitude that her daughter has two moms to make her feel safe. “No more fever,” Talia says. “Back to our old selves.” Sophie feels something tight inside her body relax, something she’s been holding on to for too long.
“I’m coming back tonight,” Sophie says, but she’s cut off by a whine.
“Okay, here’s Mama,” says Talia, and Leah appears on the screen again.
“Hi, baby.”
Leah’s face beams at the word she recognizes. “Baby,” she echoes.
“Tell Mimi I’ll be home tonight. Oh, and Tal, I invited my dad to come if that’s okay…with his new girlfriend.”
Somewhere in the background, Talia gives a surprised “Ooo.” There’s so much to explain, Sophie knows. And she isn’t sure how much she’s going to share, but she does know that she loves her family more than anything in the world. No matter what happens, that will never change. She suddenly longs to lie in bed with Talia’s warm legs entangled with hers, to watch trashy TV and eat bed snacks, with Leah asleep in the next room. She wants it so bad, it takes everything in her not to run and jump in the car this instant. But she can’t. Not yet.
“Are you planning to go back soon?” Talia asks.
This is the question that Sophie has been batting around the whole time she’s been here. She has stayed away for fifteen years, and for what? To avoid retraumatizing herself with reminders of her friend’s death? But Barbara stayed. Tom stayed. Joey stayed. Sophie could have stayed. She understands now, with the kind of clarity you only get after an emergency virtual therapy session, that her avoidance of Whisper Ridge has been tied to Tanner and her fear of him. She told her dad this morning about what Tanner did to her, and he vowed that he would“make that boy’s life hell”for her. She told him not to, but secretly, she was overwhelmed with the lightness of having let just a piece of it go.
She smiles at the screen. “Actually, I thought we could come up here in September, all of us, when the aspen leaves change. It’s the most beautiful thing. Leah will love it.”
“Sounds perfect.”
“Oh, and we’re doing a girls’ trip,” Sophie says. “Over the summer. I promise I’ll give you advanced notice this time.”
“That sounds really great, Soph. I’m happy for you.”
“Mama!”
Sophie looks at the time and climbs off the bed. “Mama will behome soon, baby. I love you.”
“Lo’ you!”
Sophie’s eyes dampen.
“Love you, Soph. See you soon,” says Talia, and they click off. Sophie wipes her face. She grabs her shoes and heads for the door.
74Elena
“Acapulco,” Elena says, pouring two cups of coffee. Gael is in the other room, packing.
Barbara accepts her cup with a contented sigh. “Lovely.”
She’s talking about the upcoming girls’ trip. “I’d kill for a margarita on the beach,” says Elena now, just like she said to Joey and Sophie. She pulls up a picture of the coastline on her phone.
