“You’re saying that,” I said, shaking my head, “but it doesn’t feel like it. I mean, I know it, I guess. Because that’s what parents are supposed to do. And I remember what it used to be like. But we’re never . . . like we used to be. It doesn’t feel like love. You’re just nervous all the time. And Dad . . . he barely talks to me. He just lives in his phone all day. I’m not sure he remembers my name sometimes.”

Mom stared at me dead-on, like she was trying to send me a message. “Leah, your father . . . he isn’t good at saying things in words. He never has been. It’s hard for him, to talk about the things that matter most. Can you understand that? He has other ways of expressing his feelings.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. I guessed it was probably true, but I didn’t know what those ways might be. If someone is expressing feelings, but nobody can understand them, does it count? Anyway, we were both tired, and I didn’t really want to talk anymore, so I just nodded again. It felt like another lie, but it was all I had in me. And it was something, that she’d let me go see Jasper. It was something, that Mom and I were talking. I looked around my bare room and felt a little less terrible.

Then Mom looked around too, glanced at the bare walls and empty bookcases, but she didn’t say anything. She just nodded back at me.

The Whole (Other) Story

I went over early the next day, as soon as Mom and Dad had left for work. I made my way up the creek to the now-familiar hole in the overgrowth. I pushed my way through, and into the Vine Realm.

Jasper was sitting in the sun, reading. She set down her book as I walked up. Her usual grin was gone. I sat down beside her.

“What happened?” she asked. “When you didn’t come back yesterday, I was worried your parents had literally killed you.”

“I almost wish they had,” I said with a grimace. “My dad’s lecture was one for the record books. I don’t think he took a breath for a full hour.”

“Ouch,” said Jasper. “So, what’s the damage?” she asked. “Are you grounded until you’re thirty?”

I shook my head. “They can’t exactly ground me, because they have to go to work. So they aren’t there to know what I do all day.”

“Good point,” said Jasper. “But then, what’s the punishment?”

“They took away my phone for a while,” I said. “And they gave me lots of disappointed looks. Also they want you . . . to come meet my mom.”

“Oh, God.” Jasper’s eyes went wide. “Really?”

I nodded. “Yep. You can expect some hard questions. Consider yourself warned.”