Oren jumped up, and for a second I thought he was going to run away again. But he went over to the parking lot and picked up several stones. He returned and carefully laid one on each of his parents’ graves too.

Then he leaned over and put one on Ms. Menkowitz’s headstone. Then another on the Adamses’, which was really nice.

He looked…not exactly happy. But maybe a bit less sad.

“We should get back,” I said. “I’m sure your uncle’s worried. Maybe you should let him know we’re on our way.”

As we passed the house, I gave Sarah a little thumbs-up, since she was still peeking out her window.

“He’s a good guy,” I said to Oren. “Your uncle, I mean. He’s really worried about you, you know.”

Oren nodded.

“He thinks he’s doing a bad job as your guardian. He wants to help you, but he’s pretty new at this parenting thing. And I guess with your not talking and not wanting to go to therapy, he’s sort of—”

“We were fighting,” Oren said suddenly.

The sound of his voice shocked me so much I stopped in my tracks. Both that he’d spoken and what he’d said. His voice was different this time. He sounded like a regular kid, which shouldn’t have surprised me, but it kind of did. I tried to act like it was no big deal.

“Who was fighting?” I asked. “You and your uncle?”

“No.” Oren shook his head and sighed as we started walking again. “Me and my parents. In the car that day.”

“Oh,” I said.

“I was in the back seat, and we were going to the grocery store. It was just a regular day, you know?”

I nodded and bit my lip, not wanting to say anything that would make him stop talking. If ever there was a time that I did not want to talk someone’s ear off, it was right then.

“We were talking about the rest of the summer. I was so mad that they wouldn’t let me go to wilderness camp. All my friends were going, and I’ve never been camping and had been really looking forward to it. I couldn’t understand why they didn’t want me to go.”

So that was why he’d seemed weird about camping. I felt bad for ever bringing it up, but how could I have known? Then I thought about what Jared had said about the Grand Canyon trip—was that why they wouldn’t let him go to wilderness camp? Because they had a huge surprise trip planned?

“I freaked out. I…I was just so mad.” He sniffed a couple of times and then continued. “I told them I hated them.”

“Oh no, Oren.” I slid my arm across his shoulders as we walked.

“It gets worse.” He swallowed loudly. “I told them…” His voice was barely more than a whisper. “I told them I wished they were dead. Then I’d be able to go to camp.”

I gasped. I hadn’t meant to—it just slipped out.