But she knew he would be. The store was more like five blocks and two side streets away. Plenty of scope for him to get lost; plenty of time for her to have a word with her mom. The second the main building door closed behind her, Rose bolted up the stairs.

“You kids have fun?” Blythe slid her glasses to the end of her nose, saw that Rose was alone as she barreled in through the door. Her mom put down the magazine she'd been reading. “Let me guess. He fell down a manhole?”

“Ah, you could say that, sort of.”

“Oh. A hole of his own making, then.” The way her mom narrowed her eyes, just a fraction, with a slight tilt of her head, was a sure tell-tale sign that she was on top of this meeting, of what would go unsaid between them. She'd always been sharp and intuitive, maybe the sharpest person Rose had ever met. Little escaped her attention. “You've been gone a while.”

“We took a trip to the harbor.”

“You went to the harbor-front? The Halifax side?”

“Yeah, took a little boat out to one of the small islands. Had it pretty much to ourselves.”

“You sound a little flustered, Rose.”

“Nah, just tired.” Rose plonked herself down on the sofa, put her dirty sneakers up on the coffee table. “Yeah, just tired...of all the cloak and dagger shit around here.”

“Excuse me? And take your shoes off my table.”

“Uh-huh.” Her mom was literally the only person in the world Rose would have obeyed in her current frame of mind. It stung her a little to be at odds like this, but she really was tired of being excluded from whatever was going on.

“By cloak and dagger, you mean...”

“You know exactly what I mean. Shit, you've even told Andy before me.”

Blythe took her glasses off, folded them slowly, and placed them neatly in their case. “What did he tell you?”

“Enough to know you and Bellamy are playing me for a first-class sucker.” She was lying, grasping at straws, but she was desperate.

“In other words, he told you nothing,” Blythe replied.

“Not nothing. I know my brother. I know when he's covering for someone.”

“Rose, you need to work on your bluffing technique. That was feeble.”

“I know. Like I said, I'm tired.” Rose scrubbed her face with her hands. “I came here to spend time with you, and it feels like all I've been doing is figuring out why you don't want me here.”

Blythe shook her head and gave a long, weary sigh. “You poor girl. You couldn't be further from the truth. Rose, this has all been about spending more time with you. If you believe anything, believe that. Trust me. Bellamy wouldn't hear otherwise.”

Rose sat up. “Mom, what does that even mean? What are you saying?”