Anger flared, a little piece of kindling always ready to be lit right beneath Colleen’s ribs. The words, so quick they came to her tongue, but she swallowed them, almost choking on their bitterness. What she’d wanted to say had something to do with why they’d lived with it a bit longer, and how Hallie had lived with Walter and then a nice list of curse words. But instead Colleen saw her dad’s pleading eyes asking for Colleen to forgive, and instead of speaking, Colleen stared at the photos.

“Now let’s get to work.” Shane sifted the photos under his hand.

“But we’ll do other things, too, right?” Colleen asked. “Maybe that doctor will have some answers.”

“What doctor?” Hallie asked, looking only at Shane, her hands gripped in small fists on top of the table.

“The one at MD Anderson; I asked Colleen to take him.”

“I’m going, too.” Hallie opened her fists and set both palms on the table, lifted her eyebrows in the same way their mother had done when she was adamant, when what she said was “the end of the discussion.”

Colleen couldn’t stifle her laugh; the siblings turned to her. “Sorry.” She shrugged. “I just can’t believe how much you looked like Mother right then—with the lifted brow and the earnest proclamation.”

Hallie stared at Colleen for a moment and in that space—that gap between what was said and what would be said—Colleen held her breath.

“I know.” Hallie almost smiled. “Sometimes I can’t believe the things that come out of my mouth when I’m with the girls; it’s like Mother snuck inside me.”

Colleen exhaled. “Yes.”

Shane leaned forward. “Then it’s set—you two take him to the doctor; start the interviews; plan the party. I’ll keep things running here.”

“Because we don’t have any other life?” Hallie asked with a smirk.

“Not right now you don’t.” Shane stood up. “This, right here, our family, is your life.”

“Well, then, as a family we have one problem to figure out.” Hallie held up her hand as if in surrender. “I thought I could figure it out alone, but I can’t.”

“What’s that?” Shane asked.

“His timeline. I’m trying to get it right, but there are spots I don’t understand unless I ask him, and that will give it away.”

“Well, sis, you have exactly thirteen days to figure it out.” Shane tapped on her bag overflowing with papers and notes. “Somewhere in there is the answer.”

Hallie shook her head. “Something is missing.”

“I think the photos will help,” he said.

Hallie’s gaze fluttered between her sister and brother. “All right, but I’m afraid it’s already too late—that he won’t be able to tell us the truth.”