Dani had a sudden image of herself at sixteen, sitting in a rocking chair holding Greg, who’d only been a year old. She’d curled around the baby in her arms, rocking him and sobbing, but quietly. Because Jim had come home from his shift with the police force “cranky,” and Tammy had urged her not to let him hear her cry.

Tammy had told her that she’d had to do the same when she cried over losing her only sister, or risk Jim’s anger. She had cautioned Dani not to make Jim mad. Or he’d make them leave and then she and Greg would have no one. So Dani had cried as silently as she could.

“Yes,” she whispered, shaken by the memory.

“Who did you cry on? Or with?”

“There was no one.” No one to comfort a grieving girl who missed her mom and stepfather so damn much. Whose life had been uprooted yet again.

“The definition of ‘alone,’ wouldn’t you agree? You learned not to lean on anyone because there was no one to lean on. There’s power in that, actually.” Faith’s tone continued to be soft. Soothing. Comforting, even. “There’s power in not needing anyone. Makes you feel strong.” She let the feel hang between them.

“Feel strong,” Dani murmured. “Not be strong.”

Faith pulled her close again. “Yeah. It’s like a statue made of thin plaster. It might look like marble from afar, but let someone close enough to touch and . . .”

“Its true self becomes clear.” My true self becomes clear.

“That can be very bad if the plaster person doesn’t like her true self.”

Dani dropped her gaze to the pot in the sink and began scrubbing it. “I know. I don’t like my true self.” She said the words matter-of-factly, because they were accurate. She’d known it for some time. “So I don’t let anyone close enough to see me.”

“That’s kind of the easy answer,” Faith said.

Dani jerked her gaze up to glare at her sister-in-law. “What? I said what you wanted me to say, didn’t I?”

Faith smirked. “Yeah, you did. If you told a patient they smoked or drank too much, or ate too much sugar, and they said, ‘Sure, Doc, I smoke, drink, and eat too much,’ what would you say to them?”

Dani rolled her eyes, getting the point. “I’d tell them that talk is cheap. Actions speak louder. To make the lifestyle changes required to fix the problem.”

Faith dropped her arm from Dani’s shoulders and retuned to leaning her hip against the counter, her smirk gone. “Easier said than done.”

Dani sighed heavily. “Yeah. I know.”

“So what are you going to do about Diesel?”

Dani’s hands paused on the pot and she blinked at Faith in surprise. “Don’t you mean what am I going to do to like myself?”