“There’s no need for that tone, Danica. You know how busy I am. You know how important my work is to me. You know how important my work is to the scientific community. Considering the hours I keep at the lab, it’s not surprising that I become distracted. Our relationship has never depended on emotional displays of sentimentality.”

“You’re right,” Dani muttered, though she wasn’t sure what their relationship did depend on. She hadn’t lived with her mother for any amount of time since she was ten years old. Her mother hadn’t given her the birds and the bees talk, Trudy had. Her mother hadn’t helped her pick out a prom dress, Gram had. Her mother hadn’t attended any of her piano recitals or graduations or birthday parties. They simply didn’t have that sort of relationship, and the sad thing was that Susan seemed to think they were somehow more evolved for it. Dani couldn’t come up with a reason to stop talking to her mother, who was distant, but never as problematic as her father.

“So where are you this week?” Susan asked.

“I’m in Louisiana. I should be here for some time.”

“Good. It’s not healthy for you, drifting about as you do. You need structure in your life, Danica. Routines. A real job. I’ve always said so. If you would only take a job with a publication or a studio, it would be much more convenient for all involved.”

Dani made a non-committal noise and took a bite of her toast. And she made four more pieces of toast while her mother droned on about the various things Dani was doing wrong with her life. Dani’s only consolation, beyond the excellent strawberry jam, was that her mother wouldn’t call again until she thought it might be Dani’s birthday. So Dani had at least six months before she had to have another achingly awkward prison conversation.

Dani had accepted that each of her parents was pathologically selfish in completely unique ways. And while she was a big believer in self-care and self-esteem and all the good things associated with the word “self” she was terrified of behaving like either of them—being so self-centered that she failed to realize other people actually had the nerve to exist. That was part of why she enjoyed her work so much. Sure, she was getting paid, but she was helping people, protecting them from dangers they didn’t even realize were there. She was the anti-Journey.