On the weekends when she stayed with them Avery mostly left her alone to do “teenage things” (Zoe wasn’t sure what those were exactly, but if it bought her the right to alone time, then she was happy to sign up for it), apart from that one time she’d offered to teach Zoe some yoga moves that might ease the slump in her shoulders. Zoe had wanted to point out that her shoulders had been just fine until her dad had run off with Avery, but she didn’t want to create even more tension, so she’d simply nodded politely and said she’d think about it.

To be fair, Avery was mostly okay. It could have been worse. She’d done her best to make Zoe feel comfortable in the apartment, which wasn’t easy because the place reminded Zoe of a showroom. At home she snuggled on the sofa with Tiger and everything was worn and familiar and comfortable, but in Avery’s place there was lots of glass and white furniture and a large modern rug with a weird squiggly design and paintings that were probably considered works of art but to Zoe looked as if someone had tripped while holding a paintbrush.

She missed the lake and the trees and the birds. She missed home.

The first time she’d stayed she’d wanted to ask if next time she could bring Tiger for company, but one look at Avery’s white sofas made her realize that this place was not animal-friendly, so instead she’d compromised and brought a photo of Tiger sitting on her mother’s lap.

On the positive side she had her own bathroom, and there was a small TV in her room. Avery never cared what time she turned her light out, so she often read until far too late and then felt exhausted the next morning.

And Avery could be funny, but every time Zoe laughed she felt a little bit guilty because it felt like a betrayal of her mother.

Not that any of this was her fault. She didn’t think that for a moment.

She hadn’t wanted her parents to split up, of course she hadn’t. But she was old enough to know bad things happened, and at least her mother hadn’t died like Mina’s, so she was grateful for that. And right now, the worst thing in her life was Cally not speaking to her because she talked to Cally about everything, and now she had no one she could be truly honest with. Also, Cally knew a ton of things about her, which made her feel vulnerable. Fortunately she hadn’t told her about Nicole, even though keeping that secret had almost made her burst.

She hadn’t told her dad either. Her mother had told her not to tell anyone at all, so she’d kept her mouth shut.