“Stop!” she commanded, rushing into the fray and grabbing the envelope from Ryan. “What is wrong with you two? Get in the car, now!”

“But—”

“Now!” Eileen finished. “For God’s sake, we don’t have time for this.”

“Well, whose fault is that?” Paige added in a withering tone as she sauntered to the front passenger door.

“I’m sitting in front,” Ryan called, rushing to get between his sister and the door. “I called it.”

“You did not!”

“I did! Ask Cameron. I called it before we came outside.”

“You can’t call it when everyone’s not there.”

Movement across the street caught her attention. Her neighbor with her erect spine and size-two body was pretending to not hear this “poor parenting” episode unraveling. Eileen watched as she slipped into her shiny black Mercedes. Her children were already at school. The nanny got them there on time every morning.

“Stop it,” Eileen hissed. “Get in the back, both of you. Cameron’s sitting up front.”

Paige turned on her. “Cameron’s not even old enough—”

“I. Don’t. Care. Get in the back. Now!”

Cameron beamed.

“It’s not fair,” Ryan whined.

Eileen ignored him and unlocked the doors. Finally, everyone got in the car—all unhappy except Cameron.

“What should we listen to?” he asked as he reached for the radio, defining the battleground for the fight that would happen on the drive.

Eileen put the key in the ignition and started the car, the envelope from the windshield still in her left hand. Eric’s full name was handwritten across the front in black Sharpie.

“No!” Paige declared from the back. “We are not listening to country music, Cameron!”

Eileen turned her body in her seat and stuffed the envelope down the side of her tote so she could give it to Eric later.

“No radio.” She pushed the off button on the console. “We are having a moment of silence,” she finished as she shifted the car into reverse and backed down the drive.

Chapter 2

Eileen

The light was bad. She had tried to tell them at this time of day, on the east side of the lake, that they would be fighting the shadows. But when the client insisted on the location, you gave them what they wanted. Even though you knew ahead of time that it would lead to being unhappy with the results—you did it anyway.

“Okay, Mom and Dad,” Eileen directed from behind her camera. “Let’s try you two facing each other… Not quite that much… There you go.” This whole shoot was turning into a complete disaster. “And we’ll put the two tallest boys right in front of you. And the youngest in front of them, good, good,” Eileen lied and pressed the button of her camera, capturing a series of rapid-fire shots.