Milly handed the camera back to Daniel. Through its lens he focused on the distant cliffs where the path wound its way back inland. Sharp detail carved into the vertical drops, each blade of long, thin grass on the outcrops waving in the sea breeze. Trees that fought hard to poke out from the cliff drew stark white lines on the brown and ochre rock.

Daniel squeezed the trigger with a satisfying clunk—a mechanical one he felt in his fingers, not a sound fashioned by an audio engineer.

Milly sat on a large rock that forced the meandering path wide, her chin in her hands, her eyes down. Daniel’s heart sank. The same pose as at her birthday party.

He had to know.

Daniel sat down next to her on the mammoth rock. “We didn’t finish our chat about your birthday party—”

Milly’s chin shot out of her hands, her eyes cloaked in suspicion. “Why do you keep asking me about that?”

“I’m just checking in. We don’t get to talk like we used to, so I’m just making sure you’re okay.”

The cloak remained as Milly folded angry arms. “So that’s why you wanted me to come with you? And why are you trying to fix me? Why don’t you try to fix you and Mom?”

Daniel’s mind shifted gears as Milly raised the stakes. “You know, when people change the subject after being asked an uncomfortable question—”

Milly stood in a rush. “Which is what you’ve just done.”

She was like him. So like him.

“I’m not stupid, you know. I can see what’s going on.” Her eyes searched Daniel’s in what he thought was desperation, hoping he would take the reins of a conversation that was racing away from her.

Daniel had to proceed with kid gloves. For the first time in a long time, Milly had opened a crack in the door she’d shut between them.

“So how is school?”

Milly crossed her arms again. “Maybe if you paid more attention to Mom, my family wouldn’t feel like it was falling apart.” And after lobbing that grenade at him, she stormed back along the path to home.

“Milly!”

She slowed ever so slightly before increasing her pace. She wasn’t coming back, and rushing after her would only make things worse.

One positive thought broke through his growing frustration. He now knew what was bugging her. He walked a little farther along the path and again lifted the camera to his eye. Foaming white sea spray surged over the rocks below, and as the ocean retreated from its pulsing attack, the lime-green seaweed glistened in the afternoon sun. Daniel again squeezed the trigger.

Milly’s words burned, even though they gave him a plan.