“On some levels you aren’t close to being similar to someone who has not had their basic needs met. But on many levels you are. You grew up in a world that’s not the norm. I don’t know everything about you, Chase, but I know a lot of people let you down, and though you may have had your physical needs—like food and shelter—met with great satisfaction, your emotional needs were ignored in favor of promoting your career. Or at least that’s what I have learned with actors, athletes, and virtuosos who spent their childhoods striving to elevate themselves above the normal. They circumvented important stages of development in favor of success. And there are penalties to pay when one does that.”

“Okay, so I wasn’t raised like a lot of kids.”

“You weren’t raised like a kid at all. Where did you go to preschool?”

Chase shook her head. “I didn’t. I was homeschooled. Lots of kids are homeschooled.”

“Of course they are.” Olivia maneuvered the car off the two-lane curving road onto a highway. The sun peeked out from behind a cloud, and Chase pushed her sunglasses from atop her head onto her nose.

“Who were your friends when you were a child? Say, when you were around six or seven years old? Name them.”

Chase didn’t have an answer. She remembered playing with one little girl who lived near her before she started doing commercials. They’d played in a nearby park. She could still remember the way the metal slide burned the backs of her thighs and the time she fell and chipped her front tooth while jumping rope. Her mother had been furious, and Lorna had refused to let her go back to the playground. When Chase had made it onto feature films, they’d had an on-set tutor for any children in the production. In between worksheets, she learned to play poker and Grand Theft Auto with some of the older kids. “I didn’t have any.”

“Did you learn to ride a bike?”

“No.” Like Lorna would have let her do something that would skin up her knees or break her face.

“Have birthday parties—”

“Of course I had birthday parties,” Chase interrupted.

Olivia glanced over at her. “That other children attended?”

Chase made a face. Her parties were usually attended by her mother’s friends. Or people on the set. Her cakes were always elaborate for the publicity photos, and she was allowed only one small piece.

“Did you learn to swim, take family vacations, go roller-skating, own a pet, have a sleepover, play with Barbies, go camping, write letters, do chores, go on a date, attend prom, graduate with a tassel and confetti?” Olivia spat those out like a tommy gun.