“Not all the time.” Joanna measured the pasta carefully. “Whenever we had guests for dinner, because of course they all wanted him to cook. When he was experimenting with new recipes. The rest of the time we ate in restaurants.”

“Didn’t you ever just eat a grilled cheese sandwich?”

“No. But it sounds like heaven. Is it difficult to make?”

“No. That’s going to be our next lesson. Let’s make a salad to go alongside our pasta.” She saw Joanna’s tension and decided to change the subject. “I liked Mary-Lou. Did she really once put a frog in your stepmother’s purse?”

“Yes.” Joanna didn’t take her eyes off the sauce. “But Denise thought I’d done it, so I didn’t find it as funny as everyone else.”

Ashley felt a pang. “It must have been hard. I’m so angry with my mom right now, but at least I felt loved.”

“Some of it was my fault.” Joanna tipped the pasta into the boiling water. “I grew up with just a dad until I was eight years old. It was the two of us against the world. I guess it was easier that I never knew my mother. He talked about her all the time, and I felt as if I knew her, but I’d never had her in my life. I missed the thought of her, rather than the actual person. And then he met Denise. I was young. Insecure. I’d never had to share my father with anyone. I guess she felt the same way. She wanted him all to herself.” It was a raw, emotional confession and Ashley felt humbled hearing it. Joanna hid herself from everyone and yet here she was revealing herself to Ashley. Sharing her deepest secrets, exposing the layers of her life that no one saw.

She desperately wanted to say something wise and comforting, but she had no idea what that was.

“Denise was the adult.” In the end she just said what she thought. “You were a child and being faced with a change like that must have been unsettling. She should have been more understanding.”

“Maybe. He was going to divorce her. I heard them fighting about it—my father was a really mild, calm man, but he was yelling at her. Telling her that he couldn’t be with someone who didn’t love his daughter. That he’d made a mistake. That it was over. Is that boiling too fast?” Joanna stared at the pan while Ashley struggled to digest what she’d just heard.

This was huge. Had Joanna even told anyone that before?

“The water is fine.” Ashley swallowed. “And what did she say?”

“That it wasn’t her fault. That I was a difficult child.”

Ashley forgot about the sauce and the pasta. She wrapped her arms around Joanna. “That’s horrible. Unforgivable.”