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CHAPTER NINETEEN

Laurel

By Saturday morning, suspicion has settled so deeply under my skin that every delayed text feels loaded and every conversation starts sounding coded. It’s exhausting, and, apparently, impossible to turn off.

Lucy sits cross legged on the living room floor coloring a horse purple while TV cartoons mutter softly in the background. Bun is tucked beside her beneath one arm. Foxy has apparently been demoted after “an incident” involving grape jelly and insufficient emotional support.

I didn’t ask follow-up questions.

Some systems work better undocumented.

“You said Daddy’s off work today,” Lucy says without looking up.

“He is. We’re going to see him soon.”

“Okay.”

The purple horse gains orange wings.

I stand in the kitchen staring at my phone again. No new messages from Tom letting me know when to meet, much less what’s happening with Maggie.

“Can Bun have pancakes tomorrow?” Lucy asks.

I blink back toward reality. “Tomorrow?”

“Grandma Sophie makes smiley face ones.”

“That feels emotionally manipulative of her.”

Lucy glances up. “What’s manip…lative?”

“Very good pancakes.”

She accepts it without question, proving that children really will believe anything if you say it confidently enough.

By ten-thirty, we’re in the car heading toward Everwood. Rain drifts lightly through the valley again, mist hanging over the trees while Lucy narrates an unrealistic story about the purple horse from the backseat.

Horses can sleep standing up, which feels unfair.

I could sleep standing up right now if someone gave me ten uninterrupted minutes and a sturdy wall.

“You okay?” Lucy asks suddenly.

I glance into the rearview mirror.

She’s watching me carefully over the top of Bun’s head.

The look does something uncomfortable to my chest every time. Lucy observes the world the same way I do—thoroughly, like she’s collecting evidence before deciding whether it feels safe.

“I’m okay,” I tell her.

“You rubbed your forehead three times.”

Excellent. I’m being psychologically profiled by a five year old.

“I have a headache.”

“Oh.” She thinks about it for moment. “Grandma Sophie says Grandpa Mick gets headaches because he watches news channels that make him yell at the weather people.”