I peer over the bed rail and then yank my pillow onto my face. My mom. But I’ve avoided too many of her calls lately, and the guilt has reached pick-up-the-phone levels. The ringing stops, but then she calls again. She must have remembered the Angles decision was coming.

I tumble over the rail and onto the floor to answer.

“There’s my star!” she says as soon as her face takes over the screen.

“Hi, Mom!” I say, nudging my door shut with my toe. I smooth my hair back and smile into the camera, trying to look perky and alert. I don’t want to worry her. Or get her started about whether I’m dieting or rehearsing enough. Those are the cures for everything, according to her.

She leans forward, squinting. “Oof. Look at those bags under your eyes.”

“Mom!”

“Dab a little concealer, honey. You don’t want to look like an old hag at eighteen,” she says.

“I’ve been really busy—”

“Tell me about it! You know I haven’t slept a wink in days either!” I can tell she’s looking at the picture of herself in the corner of the screen. She tucks a wing of her hair, platinum blond, chin length, and ironed straight, behind her ear. She’s got a glass of her boxed Chablis at her elbow. “I would have called sooner, but I’ve just had so much going on,” she says. “You know me.”

“It’s okay,” I reassure her, smiling. She’s busy—the wine-tasting club she started, community association president, head of the neighborhood committee, drawing crowds and always planning things, now that she has time with me gone. “I’m glad you called,” I say. “It’s good news!”

“Well, how did you know already?” she says.

“What?”

“Is it on my face? Do I look radiant?” She laughs at herself. “I do feel radiant!”

I feel a little lost. “Great, but … why?”

“Clive just asked me to move in with him!”

“What?” I say again.

“I’m amazed too!” she says. She squints, finally realizing that I’m a little confused. “You remember Clive, honey.”

I don’t. She goes on anyway.

“The one with the beach condo? No? He has that kind of thing on his cheek, you remember?” She taps her own smooth cheek to illustrate and then waves her hand. “You should. But never mind. Our condo has the ocean right there at our doorstep.”

“Wait, Mom—”