“You wanna run that by me one more time?”

“My dad has a daughter he didn’t know existed until she showed up at the marina yesterday with a letter from her recently deceased mother naming my dad as her father.”

“Holy. Shit. What did your mom say? What did your dad say?”

“I guess my mom has been pretty cool about it. I mean, what could she say? It’s not like my dad had an affair and fathered a kid while he was married to her. He was with this woman before he ever met my mom.”

“So she’s older than you guys? The sister.”

“Yeah, she’s thirty-nine. Her name is Mallory, and get this—she looks just like my father’s mother did as a young woman. It’s uncanny.”

“Wow, that’s amazing. Are you like…weirded out to find out you have another sister?”

“Just a bit. Wasn’t what I expected to hear, that’s for sure.”

“How did the others take it?”

“Pretty good, overall. Except for Janey. She left before Mallory showed up. She said she couldn’t deal with it.”

“She’s had a lot going on lately. She’s probably on overload.”

“Definitely. But she also loves being the only girl in our family and plays the part to the hilt. If Mallory is going to stick around, it’ll be a big adjustment for her. For all of us, really.”

“Is she going to stick around?”

“I don’t know what her plans are. She’s a nurse in Providence, so I’m sure she has to get back to work at some point.”

“But she’ll be back?”

“I guess. You know my dad. He’s going to want her around. He probably feels guilty that he didn’t know about her before now.”

“That’s not his fault.”

“Still…”

“Imagine having a kid walking around out in the world for almost forty years, and you don’t know about her. It’s got to be pretty crazy to find out about her after all this time.”

“Yeah.”

“You were right,” Owen said.

“About?”

“This took my mind off everything for a few minutes, and I would’ve said that wasn’t possible. Thanks.”

“The sister I didn’t know I had and I are happy to help.” Evan pulled into the parking lot and cut the engine. “I know you’ve got a lot of heavy shit going on right now, but you’re not alone with it, O. I hope you know that.”

“Thanks for the reminder.”

Evan handed him his keys. “I’ll come in to see how my cousin is, and then I’ll leave you alone.”

With Evan following close behind, Owen went into the clinic and asked for Laura.

“I’ll wait out here,” Evan said to Owen as the receptionist led him back to her cubicle.