For the first week after the disaster, she followed the news religiously, watching everything about Orsk with a feverish intensity. But after a few days the story slipped from the headlines, and so did her interest. She ate, she slept during the day, she ignored questions from her mom and Gerard until they stopped asking them. She existed.

Six months passed. Seven months. Amy stayed in her room over Christmas, and her mom drove out to see her aunts and uncles without her. She fell asleep at 6 p.m. on New Year’s Eve and woke up at three in the morning and couldn’t fall back to sleep for two days. January came and went. February passed. Each day was crossed off on the calendar, and each day was just like the one before.

Sometimes Amy cried for no reason. She’d spend hours experiencing either great wracking sobs or tears silently streaming down her face that she couldn’t explain. March passed. April. Gerard and her mom went on vacation to see her cousins in Niagara Falls without her. Staying in the trailer alone was too much, so she checked into a hotel while they were gone. Otherwise, Amy didn’t go outside, she didn’t talk, she refused therapy. She just slept when she could, and ate, and existed.

And then, one day, she discovered what she had to do.

After the flood, after the newspaper stories, after a segment on Hardball with Chris Matthews in which a spokesperson for Orsk USA fielded questions about his company’s commitment to the safety of its employees, after the memorial services, Orsk slipped out of town. The building was infested with toxic black mold. It needed to be torn down and rebuilt, and Tom Larsen had no interest in making a huge investment in a store with so many negative associations. It was better just to cut and run.

To everyone’s surprise, another big box retail store bought the property. Thirteen months after the disaster, Planet Baby opened in the same location. A one-stop retail shopping solution for all your baby’s needs. With Planet Baby, having a baby wasn’t just the greatest choice you could ever make—it was the start of a thrilling new lifestyle.

The day she read about the opening, Amy drove out and completed a job application. She couldn’t believe it when the next day someone in HR called her cell phone, explaining she’d been hired as an assistant floor manager. She hid the news from Gerard and her mom for as long as possible. The night before she started the job, she revealed her plan. Their happiness was qualified, but Gerard seemed to speak for both of them when he said: “We’re glad you’re getting back on the horse that threw you, because we think it’s time you started contributing to the rent. That settlement isn’t going to last forever.”