After she did her asanas, after she showered, after she fed Sara, made her lunch, and dropped her off at school, she’d drop by for a breakfast she never ate. Her body became thinner and, I swear, longer. Her new slender self moved with a stunned grace.

“Maybe you should see a therapist?” I suggested. “So you can decide what you want to do.”

“Rosie must have told Sue and she probably mentioned it to my dad, but he’s been acting like usual, normal.” She didn’t look at me but stared at a space on the wall, her voice monotone. “I think Sue is avoiding being in the dealership when I’m there because I hardly see her. Mom keeps complaining about how much Dad is working. Meanwhile, I feel like I’m part of a play. My father’s not quite my same father. Nothing is like it was, but we act like it’s the same. Nothing feels real. I walk and talk underwater.” She pulled apart the toast smeared with jam, watching her fingers play with the crumbs. “Floating through different layers of reality. The casual work, the old father-daughter, the fact that we both know we know he’s sleeping with my best friend but never talk about it. We slide between lives in different dimensions. And when I’m with Mom and Dad it’s like it always was but different. I’m in layers of gauze.”

“Except you don’t hang out with Sue and Rosie anymore. That’s changed.”

“When I see them, I …” She searched for a word and then continued, “I saw them walking down Main Street busy talking to each other. They didn’t see me. I was invisible. I heard Sue laugh, you know, her loud belly laugh like the whole world is hilarious, and thought I was going to throw up right on the sidewalk. Broke out in a sweat. Ducked into a store to hide.”

I put my hand on her arm.

“Me hiding. Actually hiding. And I know, I know I’m stuck. Can’t figure out if I should tell my mom. She’d be heartbroken. Maybe he won’t leave her. I can’t figure it out.”

“Maybe you’re doing exactly what you’re supposed to be doing. Let them work it out. Let your father make his decision and let it unwind.”

She continued as though she hadn’t heard me. “If my mom finds out I haven’t told her, she’ll hate me as much as I now hate Rosie. ‘We were protecting you,’ Rosie said. ‘We love you. So we didn’t want you hurt, or your mom. This just happened,’” Jeannie rasped in Rosie’s voice.

That was a month ago. “How’s this going to work out for the cookie party?”

“Ohmigod. Is Sue coming?”