But she doesn’t. He looks away from her to the TV. His face has clearly taken more than one punch and they just aren’t going to talk about it, and what does that say about them right now? She makes a noise in her throat, and he glances back at her.

“Wherever you fell in the greenbelt,” she says, “maybe it ought to be marked. Like a sign that it’s slippery or dangerous. I don’t want it happening again to you. Or anyone else.”

He nods. “I’ll send an email to the greenbelt committee. I don’t think we have to worry about it happening again.”

She nods back, and for a moment she thinks, Well, he really did slip. He really did fall. I can just tell myself that. He stares at the television.

She goes upstairs to check on the kids. Julia’s lying on her bed, holding a pillow. “I have to run an errand. Are you going to be OK for a bit?”

Her daughter looks at her with a mix of grief and terror, and something twists in Iris’s heart. “Baby. What’s wrong?”

“What’s not wrong?” Julia says, putting her face in the pillow. Iris sits by her on the bed, puts a reassuring hand on her back.

“I know this is all so horrible. It will get better in time.”

“You were her friend,” Julia said. “Right?”

“Yes,” Iris says, without adding once.

“You’d do anything for a friend, wouldn’t you?”

“Nearly anything,” she says. She pats Julia’s back. “What friend is needing your help?”

“I don’t know how to help Ned.”

“You’re there for him. You listen to him. You help him with his grief. You help him see that he can get past this. That’s what a friend does.”

Julia takes a deep breath. She seems like she’s going to say more, but she doesn’t. She only says: “We can get past this.”

“I have to see my friends I had with Danielle. Are you going to be all right?”

“Yes,” Julia says. “I need to finish reading a book for English. I’ll do that, but it’s hard to concentrate.”

“Try, though,” Iris says, then immediately regrets it. Julia says nothing more, and Iris eases the door shut. They need to ask a professional about how to help Julia. Down the hall she knocks on Grant’s door. He’s sitting on the bed, studying something on his iPad.

“I have to go out for a bit. Do you need anything?”

He stares at her like he’s not sure how to answer, but finally he says, “No.”

“What’s wrong?”

His face is neutral. “You wouldn’t ever lie to me, Mom, would you?”