“She’s living on her own now. You can’t be there every minute. She has to make her own mistakes. It’s like you said, all of us are just trying to do our best.”

“You best!” shouted Lincoln. “Pies best!” The two friends hugged and laughed.

And for the next hour they talked about pies and business plans. It felt fantastic.

Chapter Twelve

Renee sat and stared at the phone in her hand. After a great business-brainstorming session with Sadie, she now had to switch gears and deal with Tansy. Tipping her head back, she blew out a long raspberry. How was she going to handle this?

Should she play it cool for the first few minutes, and then let it rip?

Or start off full Mama Grizzly with angry shouting and threats to kick her butt off the Santa Monica Pier? Tempting, but probably not productive.

Good lord, the fact she even needed to have this conversation felt insane. Smoking, drinking—who knew what else?

Renee didn’t want to shame her or put even more distance into their relationship. But she couldn’t condone binge drinking. And if Tansy was having sex with this Beckett, it better be protected. She’d suffered through not one, not two, but three painfully awkward talks with Tansy about birth control pills, condoms, IUDs, oh my!

She closed her eyes as the reel of Instagram pictures played past like a disturbing movie starring a stranger. How could Tansy have changed so much in such a short time? Not too long ago, she had been too self-conscious to wear a bikini or ask her crush to the annual Sadie Hawkins dance. Renee had to cheerlead every single tentative step Tansy took toward being less shy and more confident with boys or her body.

And now she was running half-naked around Los Angeles. Renee wasn’t stupid—she assumed Tansy would have her fun. But sipping on the occasional cocktail was a lot different than beer bongs and shots.

“What do I even say?” She shoveled in a third scone before choking on the dry bite. So much for eating her feelings. “It’s like she’s throwing everything away, and for what?” she said, once she finished coughing. “I have no idea.”

“I’m not sure either,” Sadie admitted. “But the first step is just to be honest with her. I think I would approach it from both an emotional and logical perspective. Tell her how seeing those posts made you feel, and make sure she knows the implications. Like she doesn’t want that to be what people look at if she applies for an internship.”

Renee squeezed her eyes, feeling the beginning throb of a migraine. “I hadn’t even thought of that.”

Sadie gave her a squeeze. “Good luck. Come over later if you want to debrief.”

After Sadie left, Renee made her way upstairs. She’d call from Tansy’s bedroom, with its creamy yellow walls, crowded bookshelves, and loft bed. Her prom dresses still hung in the closet, and her stuffed lamb perched on the nightstand. It still smelled like her, a sweet mix of vanilla and brown sugar–body lotion. Renee needed to be here for this phone call, surrounded by Tansy’s old, familiar things. She needed those physical reminders of who her daughter was before she’d moved to California.