Katie arrived a few minutes later with earbuds in place and, after pouring herself a bowl of cereal, dropped down at the table across from Phil and beside Logan, who had returned with the paper.

“Take out the earbuds and join the conversation,” Phil said to Katie. When she didn’t respond he reached out, tapping the table in front of her and then motioning for her to remove her earbuds.

“What?” She scowled as she pulled them from her ears.

“Be part of the family. No music at the table.”

“I read that listening to music just thirty minutes a day through earbuds could reduce your hearing by twenty percent by the time you’re forty,” Megan said. “You shouldn’t be using them at all.”

Katie’s gaze shifted to Megan. “Did you know that some people consider unsolicited advice an act of hostility?”

“Fine.” Megan shrugged as she pushed back her chair. “Go deaf.”

“I want to get my license,” Katie announced moments after Megan left. “And I don’t want to drive any of the ostentatious cars in the driveway.”

“Ostentatious, huh?” Phil raised his eyebrows, and Lina could tell he was fighting hard not to smile. “What do you suggest?”

“A used car. Something older that didn’t cost a lot when it was new.”

“And who is going to pay for this used car?” When she didn’t reply immediately, he continued. “You expect me to spend money on a used car because you don’t want to drive any of the cars we currently own? That sounds profligate.”

“I don’t know that word,” she said.

“Wasteful, decadent, reckless,” he said. “You have a thirty-minute commute to school. You’re going to drive a safe, reliable car. A car I choose, unless you have some money I don’t know about.”

“That’s not fair,” Katie complained. “You’re punishing me for not being pretentious like the rest of you. I shouldn’t be punished for being different.”

This time he did laugh out loud. “I assure you I can afford everything I own, so there’s nothing pretentious about me. Now if you feel strongly about this and feel unauthentic driving one of the cars your mother and I so generously provide, you can take the school bus. How does that sound? Nothing pretentious about that.”

“Except for the name of my twenty-five-thousand-dollar-a-year school displayed on the side of the bus.”

Lina went about the task of preparing breakfast, keenly aware that Phil and Katie were having an actual conversation. Katie continued to throw out insults about what she perceived as his materialism, and he defended himself as masterfully as any lawyer, mostly by turning her words back on her, but Lina knew he was trying to connect with her, and for some reason, maybe because Megan wasn’t around monopolizing the conversation or because Katie was in a good mood from her night out, she appeared to be cooperating.

Logan eventually switched the conversation to gossip about one of the neighbor kids, but Katie continued to participate, and as Lina stirred pancake batter and cut up vegetables for the omelet, she believed for the first time in a very long time that Katie was going to be okay.