My mom’s voice stops me from texting him back. Julia is standing in the hallway with her curly hair pulled back in a braid. She puts on her robe over her pajamas and looks at me with a mixture of affection and concern. I know I’ve reached an age where I should be embarrassed that she calls me “little girl,” but I love it. It’s been her nickname for me my whole life and one of the few times she says anything to me in Spanish.

“I can’t sleep,” I admit.

“Three words I never thought I’d hear you say.”

Julia doesn’t wait for an invitation to sit next to me on the sofa bed. She knows she doesn’t have to. I put my phone away, and for a few minutes, we gawk at the TV together as another supermodel real estate agent gives a rich client a tour of a twelve-million-dollar mansion in Beverly Hills. They love everything about the house but worry the closets are too small.

“Those closets are bigger than our entire apartment,” my mom points out.

“I know.” I turn off the TV. I don’t want her to think less of me for my newfound love of wealth porn.

“You want to talk about it?” she asks.

“Not really,” I say.

She waits a moment, as though she’s mustering up her courage, then asks: “After that night with Parisa… you’re not drinking or doing drugs, right?”

I drop my head into my hands. This is not what I want to be discussing at two in the morning. When people find out I have gay parents, they always assume they must be liberal and progressive and super woke. And they are, some of the time, but not when it comes to substance abuse. They both “work a program.” For Julia, it’s Al-Anon. And for Elena, it’s AA.

Remember the grandpa who had too many beers when they were camping and caught her and Elena making out? Well, I guess he was sort of a raging alcoholic and that he passed the gene on to Elena. She’s been sober sixteen years, so I have no recollection of what she was like when she was still hitting the bottle. But it must have messed up Julia pretty bad if she still insists on going to Al-Anon.

“No, Mom. It was a one-time thing, I promise.”

“That’s what a lot of people say when they’re secretly drinking.”

“Well, you can talk those feelings out with Rob.”