She was so caught up in her negative fantasies that when they parked she couldn’t get out of the car. “I’m scared,” she said to Johnny.

Marah rolled her eyes and walked away.

Johnny took her arm, unhooked her seat belt, and eased her out of the car.

“You’ll be great,” he said, leading her into the elevator. In the studio, there were people everywhere, running to and fro, yelling at one another. Johnny leaned close. “It’s just like your old days in news, remember?”

“Kate!”

She heard her name ring through the busy hallway and looked up. Tully, looking thin and gorgeous, was coming at her with open arms.

Tully pulled her into a fierce embrace, and Kate finally felt herself relaxing. This wasn’t just a TV show; it was Tully’s show. Her best friend would make sure Kate did well.

“I’m a little nervous,” Kate confided.

“A little?” Marah said. “She’s been acting like Rain Man.”

Tully laughed at that and looped her arm through Kate’s. “There’s nothing to worry about. You’re going to be great. Everyone is excited to have you and Marah on the show.” She led them to the makeup room and left them there.

“This is exciting,” Kate said, sitting in front of the giant mirror. The makeup artist—a woman named Dora—immediately went to work on Kate’s face.

Marah sat in the chair beside her. Another makeup artist went to work on her.

Kate stared into the mirror. In no time, a stranger emerged beside her: the woman Marah would someday become. In her daughter’s made-up face, she saw the future, recognized a truth that had until now been hidden from her beneath the pretty gauze of childhood. Soon Marah would be dating, and then driving, and then going off to college.

“I love you, Munchkin,” she said, purposely using the nickname that had gone out of fashion with Winnie-the-Pooh lunch boxes and Tickle Me Elmo. “Remember when we used to dance to those old Linda Ronstadt songs?”

Marah looked at her. For a second—just that—they were Mommy and Munchkin again, and though it didn’t last, couldn’t last in the hurricane of the teen years, it filled Kate with hope that after today they’d come together again, be as inseparable as they’d once been.

Marah looked poised to say something, then she smiled instead. “I remember.”

Kate wanted to hug her daughter, but that would never have the desired effect. Physical contact, she had learned, was the surest way to put distance between them.

“Kathleen and Marah Ryan?”

She twisted around in her chair, saw a young, pretty woman with a clipboard standing behind her. “We’re ready for you.”

Kate reached out for Marah, who was excited enough to take her hand. They followed the woman up to the greenroom, where they were put to wait.