“Thanks,” I replied with a small laugh. I was beginning to learn how to read between the lines with Ani. Sometimes she said exactly what she meant, and other times you had to search for the hidden meaning in her words. She’d been worried about me.

“You,” she said, pointing at Alex across the room. “I called you like four days ago, and you never called me back.”

“I was busy,” he replied, backing away.

“Don’t make excuses,” she bitched, walking toward him.

Bram stopped in front of me, and as he gave me a tender smile, I finally saw the strong resemblance between him and Alex. “Hey, little sister,” he said, wrapping one arm around my shoulders. “Okay?”

“Almost,” I replied honestly.

“You’ll get there,” he said, giving me a squeeze.

We congregated in the kitchen, since that seemed to be where the Evans family always ended up, and for the first time in so long, I was able to relax. I laughed at the way Ani teased Bram and Alex, complained good-naturedly when Dan told Bram and Ani about how much I hated winking and they all started doing it, and leaned against my husband, enjoying his strong arm around my shoulders.

“You should see a counselor,” Liz told me later that night as we scooped ice cream for everyone. She laughed a little at the surprised look I gave her. “Maybe not the best way to bring up the subject, but is there a good way?” She shrugged. “I just know from experience that sometimes you need to think about this stuff when you’re feeling good, because when you’re feeling bad again, it’ll be hard to imagine anything helping.”

“You’re right,” I murmured, scooping out another spoonful of ice cream. “And kind of sneaky.”

She laughed.

“You just countered any argument I could have made by acknowledging that I’m doing better before I could use that excuse.”

“Honey, I’ve raised a lot of kids,” she replied, bumping me with her hip. “There isn’t any excuse you could make that I haven’t heard before.”

“I think you’re right,” I said quietly, thinking back to Dan telling me that admitting I wasn’t okay was the first step to being okay. I really wanted to be okay again. I looked at Liz. “I think Alex should go, too.”

“I think you’re right,” she replied.

*  *  *

“Come on,” Alex said, tugging me along behind him. He thought he was going to surprise me, but he was seriously underestimating my memory, because I knew exactly where we were headed.