Needing to escape the pall of misery at her own home, Wendy had begged for another visit with Anne and Haley. Sara Morgan, no doubt as at a loss for explanation as her daughter, had dropped her off.

They sat on the couch side by side not watching the movie blabbering to itself on the television. Haley had curled up on one end of the couch pretending to be a cat and had fallen sound asleep.

“I know it seems like it does sometimes,” Anne said.

“Sometimes? All the time,” Wendy said dramatically. “Look at all the bad stuff that’s happened! Tommy’s dad and Dennis Farman and the space shuttle and Chernobyl. And Haley’s mom, and now my mom and dad are getting divorced, and Dennis killed somebody!”

It was hard to make an argument against all of that, but Anne tried to find something positive.

“I’ve had a lot of bad stuff to deal with in the last year,” she said. “But I also met Vince, and we fell in love and got married.”

“I’m never getting married,” Wendy declared. “I don’t know why people bother when they only get divorced in the end anyway. Marissa wasn’t married, and she was way cool. And she had Haley.”

“It’s not easy to be a single parent,” Anne said. “It’s a big job for two people to do it well. What does Haley talk about all the time?”

“Kittens.”

“Besides kittens.”

“Daddies.”

“She’s never had a dad, but she wants one so badly she calls every man Daddy,” Anne said.

“She’ll learn they’re not all they’re cracked up to be,” Wendy said. “I used to think my dad was so cool, but he’s just a jerk. He’s so mean to my mom.”

“Mean in what way?”

“He’s always mad and says mean things and makes her cry.”

“I’m not going to try to make excuses for your dad,” Anne said. “I don’t know what his problem is, but I think it’s safe to say he has one.”

Wendy rolled her eyes. “Yeah. Duh. Like his affairs with other women. I hear them argue. I’m not deaf and I’m not a little kid. I watch Dynasty. Mom thinks he had an affair with Marissa. I hope that’s not true.”

“I hope so too.”

“Marissa was so cool!” Wendy said. “She just loved life and did what she wanted to—but in a good way. She was so nice. She used to ask me about my dreams and what I want to be and all that. And when I told her, she was just like ‘Wow, Wendy! That’s so great! You go for it!’”

“I wish I had met her,” Anne said.