“Her childhood?” He sounds distracted again. I’d better move in fast.

“Her mom. And aunts. And, ah…” I almost say “sister,” but I’m hoping that he’ll fill in the blanks on that one.

Another long pause. I think I’m going to have to prompt him again, but he says, “Why do you ask?”

“Mom and I are in Salem. We flew in this morning.”

“Salem?” His voice is right up against my ear again. “Hold on, let me get outside.” I hear a rustling, then a door open and close. “What are you doing there?”

I want to tell him everything, but suddenly I’m worried that it might be betraying my mom. “She’s taking care of some… family issues.”

A thick, syrupy pause. “What family issues? Does it have something to do with her aunt Daisy?”

He knows about Daisy. I’m so relieved, I let out a nervous laugh. “You’ve heard of her!”

He hesitates again. “Well… yes. She used to visit her when she was young. But it’s obviously been years since she passed away. Is she there visiting someone else?”

Used to visit her? My heart sinks. My dad clearly does not know the truth either, which means he is likely not going to be much help.

Does he know about her twin? I take a deep breath, anxiety building in my chest, until I’m forced to say it. “We’re here to settle Sage’s estate.”

“Sage?” Long pause. I can feel my heart beating in my ears. Will he know her? “Did she have another aunt? Or cousin or something?”

“No, Sage is her—” I gulp back the end of the sentence. My dad doesn’t know who Sage is, meaning my mom really wasn’t joking when she said she’d kept her past private. “Um…” I know I can trust you to keep it all secret. It feels wrong to not tell my dad, but it feels more wrong to betray my mom’s trust. My chest ices up, my loneliness rising like the tide.

Once again, I’m a buoy, caught between my parents, the shore a distant memory I may never see again. “A friend of her aunt’s,” I say quickly.

“Ah.” His voice relaxes again. “I didn’t realize she still had contact with anyone there. I can’t imagine this is easy. Maybe I’ll give her a call—”

“No!” I say quickly. “I think it’s better if you give her some space. Plus, she’s super stressed with work. I think this came at a bad time. But I’ll tell her we spoke.”

“All right,” he says uncertainly.