The camera caught it all: Tully’s hope and fear and need. On the long drive home, while Cloud slept slumped in the corner, Tully spilled her heart to the lens. She answered Johnny’s questions with an unprecedented honesty, revealing at last how wounded she’d been by her distant mother.

Now, though, Tully added a new word.

Addicted.

For as long as she’d known her mother, Cloud had been hooked on drugs or booze or both.

The more Tully thought about that, the more it seemed like the cause of their problems.

If she could get her mom into rehab and help her through the program, maybe they could make a new start. So sure of this was she that she called her boss at CBS and asked for more time off so that she could be a good daughter and help her broken mother heal.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Johnny asked when she got off the phone.

They were in the sitting room of the luxurious Cascade Suite at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel in Seattle. By the window, Fat Bob sat in an overstuffed chair, capturing this whole conversation on tape. Cameras and equipment covered most of the floor; huge lights created a staging area along the couch. Marah lay curled catlike in an overstuffed chair, reading a book.

“She needs me,” Tully said simply.

Johnny shrugged and said nothing more, just looked at her.

“Well.” She stood up, stretching. “I think I’ll hit the sack.” To Fat Bob, she said, “That’s it for the night. Go get a good night’s sleep. We’ll start again at eight.”

Fat Bob nodded, packed up his gear, and headed to his room down the hall.

“Can I sleep with Aunt Tully?” Marah said, letting her book fall to the floor.

“It’s okay with me,” Johnny said, “if Tully doesn’t mind.”

“Are you kidding? A slumber party with my favorite goddaughter is a perfect end to the day.”

After Johnny went to his own room, Tully played mommy to Marah—telling her to brush her teeth and wash her face and get into her jammies.

“I’m too old for jammies,” Marah informed her smartly, but when she climbed into bed, she snuggled up to Tully like the little girl she’d been only a few short years ago.

“This was so awesome, Aunt Tully,” she said sleepily. “I’m going to be a TV star, too, when I grow up.”

“I don’t doubt it.”

“If my mom lets me, which she probably won’t.”

“What do you mean?”

“My mom won’t let me do anything.”

“You do know that your mom is my best friend, right?”

“Yeah,” she answered grudgingly.

“Why do you think that is?”

Marah twisted around and looked at her. “Why?”

“Because your mom rocks.”

Marah made a face. “My mom? She never does anything cool.”