I got up and kissed my mom on the cheek. “I love you, Mom,” I whispered. I took a step back and almost crashed into Cade. Wow, he was fast.

He wrapped me into a big bear hug. “You can talk to me, Lily. I expect you to. Please?” he whispered in my ear.

I nodded against his chest. Best brother ever. To be fair, I could say that about any one of my brothers, but Cade was right here, so he got the honor for the moment.

“Promise,” I whispered back after he let me go. “I’m going to crash,” I announced. “Good night, guys.”

After I crawled back into bed, I thought again about the day I’d had—the car chase, my stolen phone, the awesome date with Luke. But this time, I thought about how I felt about all of it. I never thought about how I felt. I mean, I had feelings, but I usually just ended up trying to bury them and get on with it. I stared up at the dark ceiling, trying to analyze my day.

Is this what people do?

If I didn’t know how to process what I felt, then I couldn’t process my confusion about how to process my feelings.

Gah, I’m an idiot.

My eyes shot to the door as it opened and light from the hallway shined in. My mom stood in the doorway. I could feel her eyes on me, probably checking on me.

“I’m awake,” I said. I saw her smile at me as she crossed the threshold and closed the door behind her.

She threw back the covers and crawled in the bed next to me. “Come here,” she demanded, opening her arms.

I turned to face her and just stared at her.

“Come here,” she repeated. I scooted over, and she wrapped her arms around me and pulled my face to her chest.

At first, I just lay there stiffly, unable to relax.

“Shhhh,” she whispered in my ear.

I remembered that—that whispery hush in my ear when my mom used to hold me and comfort me as a child. Tears filled my eyes, and I melted into her arms, just like when I was a little girl.

“Shhhh, you’re okay now.”

I wrapped my arm around her waist and tucked my other hand under my cheek.

“You don’t need to talk right now if you don’t want to. But you do need to let me be here for you,” she said.

I nodded against her, and she hugged me tighter.

“I don’t know what I’m doing,” I whispered.

“Oh, honey, none of us do,” she whispered back.

I didn’t believe that. She always seemed to have the answers. “You do,” I insisted.

“Just yesterday, I was crying to Gram and Auntie Delphine because you wouldn’t talk to me and I was worried about you.”