“Oh, honey, you’re awake. I hope you had a good sleep,” she said.

“Yup.” I fake yawned and real stretched.

She turned to look at me, headphones around her neck like a DJ. “This visit will be facilitated by a counselor. As we discussed last time.”

I nodded and didn’t sigh, because my sister says my sighs are passive aggressive, which is not true because I don’t do anything aggressive, ever.

“They’re going to let us in the back door in case of photographers.”

“Will Elizabeth be our counselor?” I thought back to the calm gray lady. Talking to her might be okay, if I had to talk to someone.

“That’s right.”

“Will Cardi and Yates be there?”

“No. Thank god.”

I was glad not to talk to Cardi, but I’d have liked to see Yates.

It was the same routine when we went inside as the last time, only Kate wasn’t with us to make comments, which I half missed and half didn’t miss, which is sort of the way I feel about Kate in general.

My mom asked the big receptionist guy, whose name turned out to be Derek, if Kate had arrived yet.

“Not yet,” said Derek.

After he searched us, he took us to the meeting room. It was empty.

“We’ll wait for Kate to arrive before we get started,” he said.

Derek seemed like a good person. I wondered if he felt bad for my dad for being falsely accused and having to go to a treatment center to calm down about it. Or maybe he judged my dad for teaching people how to gamble. Even my dad says some people should leave it alone because they go overboard and they aren’t good at it.

My mom and I sat at the big table and she started playing with her nails, which is something she only does when she’s very nervous. She takes good care of her nails and doesn’t like to do anything to damage them.

“She’ll be here soon,” she said, and the way she said it made me think maybe she didn’t think Kate would show up.

“Yeah,” I said.

I was just about to ask Mom if I could go to the bathroom when Derek came back. “Kate’s here,” he said.

“Thank goodness,” said my mom.

“But she’s not alone. She brought two friends. For support.”

My mom’s mouth fell open.

“She did what?”

“She says they’re ‘emotional support friends.’ But they aren’t on the visitor list. What would you like me to do?”

“Lavender and Cavendish?” asked my mom.

He nodded, and instead of looking all calm and stable, he looked like he just dealt with my sister.

“Let me speak to Kate,” said my mom.