Olivia’s happy optimism was teetering. Even if she didn’t want to talk about it, her sister had valid points. They weren’t the only kids in hand-me-downs and Goodwill scavenges growing up, but it was widely accepted that without their grandparents’ help, their family of four would probably have been living out of a car. Thanks to Gramps and Grams, neither she nor Ava had ever gone without an abundance of love and attention or even a healthy meal.

Ava had always been quick to dismiss her dad’s efforts over the years. And even if she didn’t want to admit it, Olivia knew she couldn’t entirely blame Ava for it. Like their aunt, their dad was a creative and talented artist. He’d just never been able to earn a living at it, and he’d never attempted a different career. His medium was stained glass. He created original pieces that sold at a small studio in New Madrid and had also done restoration in most of the churches in the Bootheel. Not only had his inability to make a somewhat decent living created a point of contention between him and their mom—a countless number of their late-night arguments were burned into Olivia’s memory—but the strain on their family had been evident.

It was no secret that this was a big part of the reason Ava had taken off as young as she did, and why she was so driven to be successful.

Ava had left home in the throes of the scandal that had nearly cost her mom her twenty-year job at Carla’s diner. She’d been selling customers honey for over a year after the hive she invested in failed to thrive. Someone caught her buying honey in bulk at the local Walmart, and within a couple of days, everyone in a hundred-mile radius had figured out that the cute jars of local honey she’d been selling were fraudulent.

Because she was the best server in the place, she’d managed to keep her serving job, but it was a long time before anyone forgot what she’d been doing.

Probably remembering just the same as Olivia that this subject was tough for them to navigate, Ava turned up the volume to her speakers and passed her phone. “Pick something to play, will you? Something fun.”

Olivia flipped through the “fun and upbeat” playlist in her sister’s Spotify account. In the spirit of what her sister was going through with Wes, Olivia chose Sara Bareilles’s “King of Anything.”

After figuring out what it was and letting out a happy snort, Ava joined her in belting out the song into the sunny afternoon. By the time Ava merged onto the highway, they were both laughing and the tension that had spiked so abruptly was ebbing.