“That’s what I thought,” she says, sneering. “He’s a rat, and I’m going to sue him.”

This is ridiculous! Why is she going after my father when Adrian is clearly the enemy here? He’s the bad guy.

Something rises up in my chest, and I think of the invisible wall between me and Lucky. And how Lucky said there’s one between me and Mom, too. Maybe I have more control over it than I thought.

After all, communication doesn’t run one way.

“You want to know the truth?” I ask her in a low voice, feeling the need to divulge bubble up inside me, dark and angry and wanting to be free. “The absolute shocking truth?”

“Babe,” she says in a tight voice, “my naked body is out on the door of my mother’s bookshop for all of Beauty to see. Nothing you can say to me will shock me right now.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

“Okay …” I warn her one last time.

She puts her glasses back on angrily. “Just say it, Josie.”

“Fine! I don’t want to move to Florida with you. I’ve been planning to go live with Henry in Los Angeles when I graduate.”

Mom stills. Then she inhales sharply through her nostrils. Like I’ve slugged her in the gut.

“Look,” I tell her, “I think it’s clear that something is broken between us, because you don’t talk to me about anything. The last few years have been hard, and I can’t handle moving around the country with you anymore. I don’t even know if you’ll end up in Florida at this point, and I need stability. On top of that, it’s not fair that you kept me away from an entire side of my family. That’s so selfish, Mom. He’s an award-winning photographer. I could be learning things from him. I could have grandparents who aren’t running around Nepal. I could have a normal life in Los Angeles! And … and …”

I try to plow on with my angry tirade, but everything Mom just told me flashes through my head along with the poster on the shop’s door. It’s muddling things, and I’m getting rattled.

“And now …” I continue, though not as surefooted. “Now it almost sounds like you’re accusing him of things, and I don’t know what to believe, but it’s confusing, because I haven’t heard his side of the story, and … it’s not fair. It’s not fair that you’ve kept me from him all these years.”