“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I do,” she said back. “You said your parents made you do things you didn’t want to do and that made you hate them. And now you’re making me do things I don’t want to do.”

Her mother stood up, like she’d had enough, but instead of shrinking back, Summer stepped forward, her anger reaching a new peak. “You’re a liar like Daddy!” she shouted.

Whatever her mother planned to do was drained out of her in that second. Her face went slack and soft and then she began to cry. Summer felt low. That’s how her dad described his worst moments. But instead of saying sorry like she wanted to, she turned her back on her mother and went to her own bed, where she lay facing the wall. Shame was her blanket as she lay perfectly still, hardly breathing, listening to her mother cry. Sometime after that, her mother left the room. It felt like something had changed between them in those few seconds. Summer couldn’t stand it. After an hour of sulking, she swung her feet off the bed and went to find her.

The cafeteria was empty at this time of day, a gray room with gray tables and gray chairs. The air always smelled like canned corn and wet cement. But the lady who ran the kitchens, Alfreda, left the coffee out, and sometimes her mother would stop there to fill her mug.

She found Taured instead.

The strong smell of oregano lingered in the air from a previous meal—lasagna. He wasn’t sitting at his usual spot, and at first, Summer didn’t recognize him. He was wearing a T-shirt and jean shorts and he had a baseball cap turned backward over his dark hair. Summer felt strange seeing him like this. He looked like a normal person, someone you’d see walking down the street in California. She stood frozen in the doorway, wondering what she should do, when Taured looked up. He smiled when he saw her, and the ruptured feeling in her gut mellowed out.

Summer widened her lips in a smile to match his, and he gestured her forward.

“You looking for your mom?”

“Yes,” she said, taking a hesitant step forward. “Have you—?”

“Yeah, she was just in here. Come and sit down, Summertime.”