Mom stood. Not so soft anymore. She stepped away from me. “No, it really isn’t. In fact, it’s very simple. This is a normal request, and any good mom would do the same. I’m your mother, Leah. I love you best and know you best.”

I couldn’t figure what else to say. In one way, I knew she was right. It was normal for her to want to meet Jasper. To want to call Jasper’s mom. Maybe even have her over for dinner. I could picture what my mom thought might happen. Two moms, laughing and gabbing and momming it up. I could imagine the conversation. These girls, what are we going to do with them, always up to something! But that conversation was never going to happen.

And the other thing was that Mom didn’t know me best, not anymore. She hadn’t bothered to know me since last summer. She didn’t know Tess and I weren’t friends anymore. She didn’t know Jasper, and she didn’t know the Vine Realm. She didn’t know any of the things that mattered most to me. Even if the Vine Realm wasn’t technically safe, nothing had ever felt so safe to me. I wished I were there, right now. Sitting on the steps, or on Jasper’s bed. Drinking a warm root beer and laughing. But the only way that would ever happen again was if I did as Mom said.

I dried my face on my shirt and stood up, faced her. “Okay, then,” I said. “I’ll bring Jasper around. Tomorrow. If you’ll let me go get her. She doesn’t have a phone, so I can’t call.”

Mom nodded. “I suppose that would be fine. You do seem to be taking this seriously.”

“I am,” I said. “I promise.”

“And then,” said Mom, “once we’ve met, Jasper can put me in touch with her mother, and we’ll get this all sorted out. Okay? Deal?”

Right away, I nodded. It was a lie, and it was easier to nod, for some reason, than say the lie out loud.

Mom pushed the same piece of my hair out of my face again and sighed. “Oh, Leah. This is all just because I love you. We both love you so much—your dad and me. You know that, right?”

“Sometimes,” I said.

“What?” Mom sat up stiffly. “What do you mean? You only know it sometimes? Or you think we only love you sometimes?”

I shrugged. “Both?”

“C’mon, Leah. You know better. We always love you, with everything we have, all the time.”