‘Let’s go, pumpkin. I’ll buy you an ice cream.’ Mr. Childress reached out to engulf Hannah’s much smaller hand in his own. ‘We’ll come right back after the detectives finish.’

With a huff of frustration, Hannah turned eyes full of hurt on Emerson.

‘I’m sorry, Hannah. I know you want to stay with me, but it’ll be easier to get through this if you’re not in the room.’ Emerson’s voice cracked as she begged her sister to understand.

Hannah sniffled and ran her forearm across her nose, nodding once, before shuffling out. The door closed quietly behind her, but it didn’t drown out her heartbreaking sobs.

The tension in the room mounted the moment Addis began to recount the tragic events of the worst night of her seventeen years. ‘I’d barely gotten through the door after I got home from school when my mom came flying down the hall from her bedroom, accusing me of stealing her designer make-up – as if we even shared the same style. But she was always accusing me of something, and it was getting worse. Even after she’d find something she insisted I stole, she wouldn’t apologize or acknowledge that she was wrong, saying I probably had snuck it back when she wasn’t looking.

‘Anyway, I was already on edge because, well, it seems silly now, but I was upset because the guy I thought was going to ask me to Homecoming asked someone else. And then my mom just blindsided me.’

Emerson snorted, her lip curling in disgust as she mumbled under her breath. ‘Asshat.’

‘Emerson,’ Mrs. Childress warned.

Alyssa almost chuckled at Cord’s expression when he realized Emerson was referring to the boy who’d hurt her best friend’s feelings. She could tell from his face that he wasn’t sure which emotion he should be expressing. He was in for a wild ride if his and Sara’s twins were girls.

‘What? He was. Is.’ Emerson released Addis’s hand and crossed her arms over her chest, and Alyssa couldn’t help it this time – she chuckled. Not that it would be easy, but she had a feeling these two would find a way to navigate through the events of this last week as long as they did it together.

Still grimacing with disgust at this ‘asshat,’ Emerson picked up where Addis left off. ‘After Addis came over, we hung out in my room while we bi—complained about boys and crappy parenting’ – she caught her mom’s eyes – ‘not you and Daddy – and then we decided to grab a bite from Little Anita’s.’