Cinnamon lights the bong. I watch it fill with smoke as she sucks. She removes the carb and, whoosh, the smoke disappears into her lungs. I imagine the smoke tickling her chest.

“I never lived in close domestic proximity to Bo,” I say.

“Right,” she says. “Westermarck argued that when this ‘critical period’ does not occur—say, where brother and sister are brought up separately—they may find each other highly sexually attractive when they meet as adults due to genetic sexual attraction.”

I don’t say anything (there is nothing to say), but I am comforted hearing about my personal tragedy in such dry, academic terms. Sleeping with your sibling you don’t know is your sibling is, as it turns out, a real phenomenon with a real title coined by a Finnish anthropologist.

“Dang,” Cinnamon says. “I never thought I would have use for this knowledge.”

We both laugh.

Then I let Cinnamon monologue about the professor. While she talks, I wonder why the professor is writing a book about incest. Maybe he made the same mistake I did. It’s probably way more common than I think. Considering this makes me feel better. But mostly I feel relieved that Cinnamon didn’t judge me for my dark secret.

After we’ve exhausted the professor drama, I project Girl, Interrupted onto my ceiling. Cinnamon puts her head on my chest. She starts calling me Susanna, and I start calling her Lisa. After the movie, we chat at the plastic stars on my ceiling, then fall asleep giggling to Kid A.

DAWN.

I am drinking Cook’s in Steph and Beth’s backyard when Bo texts me for the first time since he confronted me at my apartment. Steph and Beth reconciled. Lesbians are always breaking up and getting back together in the most dramatic ways. I don’t ask too many questions, but I hope they at least consummated the reconciliation. I still don’t love Beth, but Steph is happy, and that’s all that matters. Also, it is nice to have access to Beth’s backyard, because we are experiencing a heatwave and I desperately need some color. Beth is out of town at some conference.

I met my dad is all the text says.

“You okay, Dawn?” Steph asks.

I guess she still thinks my finding Paul’s driver’s license was a dream because we haven’t discussed it since. I don’t bring it up.

I remember that Steph and Beth’s is roughly a block away from Paul’s. Is Bo there right now? Is my son just a block away?