“You’re so mean to him.” Of course it was Charlie. She usually couldn’t go more than a few minutes without saying something snarky. “It’s both hilarious and a little heartrending.”

“Heartrending?” Molly knew she was in danger of being sucked down into one of Charlie’s rabbit-hole conversations, but it was better than having to discuss the fact that their mom was in jail…again. “Don’t feel bad for Carmondy. If he couldn’t take it, he wouldn’t always be popping up wherever I happen to be. What’s heartrending is that I’ve gotten about two hours of sleep total.” Even though she’d been hoping to be able to go back to bed, the conversation with John ensured that she’d be too wound up to sleep anymore. “If we’re going to stay up, let’s go into the kitchen. I need some coffee.”

“Nope. No coffee. Water.” Hurrying to make it to the kitchen first, Felicity started filling water bottles, keeping her body between Molly and the coffee maker. “Just because Mom’s in jail again doesn’t mean that you all can skip today’s workout.”

The chorus of groans that followed was louder than when John had told them that Jane had been arrested.

“But Fifi…” Charlie started, only to go silent when Felicity whipped out her fiercest glare.

“You get thirty extra seconds in plank position, just for calling me that.” Thrusting a filled water bottle at Charlie, Felicity raked the others with a stern glance. “Anyone else want to whine?”

Molly really did, but she knew better. Although Felicity was normally easygoing, she took her role as family physical trainer seriously, transforming into a merciless drill sergeant for an hour or so every morning. As soon as they were done working out, she turned back into her normal sunny self as suddenly as if a switch had been flipped.

It wasn’t just fear of extra torture that kept Molly from complaining, though. “We need this if we’re going to be chasing down skips and wrestling them into submission.”

Tentatively, Norah lifted her hand. “Since I’m on research duty and won’t be chasing or…wrestling anyone if I can help it…may I be excused?”

“Me too,” Cara chimed in.

Felicity just glared silently at them until they both wilted and accepted the water bottles she held out. “Everyone benefits from exercise. I do this because I care about you. Tough love and all that. So go get changed and meet me on the back porch in five minutes. Don’t make me come find you and drag you out there.”

“It’s not tough love,” Charlie muttered, just loud enough for Molly to hear. “It’s mean love.”

Choking on laughter, Molly saw Felicity’s suspicious gaze turn toward her and quickly swallowed her amusement, regaining her straight face with an effort. “Let’s get this over with.”

As she hurried up to her bedroom to change into workout clothes, she felt a secret wave of relief. Although she didn’t admit it to her sisters, she was a tiny bit relieved that Felicity’s torture would keep her from thinking about anything except the pain in her lungs and muscles for the next hour. This way, stewing about her mom ending up in jail again—and John Carmondy’s front-row seat to their family’s dysfunction—would have to wait…at least for a little while.