Will—every time she thought of him her chest grew tight and she tasted foreboding like metal in her mouth. He was a teenager, so of course he wasn’t normally very talkative, but in the last few weeks he had grown almost surly. He was still showing up for all of his shifts at the orchard, but aside from that she rarely saw him. He’d been staying late at school, as far as she knew. But she didn’t really know, and that was the problem. Neither of her sons told her anything anymore, and the police hadn’t been back since the day Officer Murray spoke with Trip out by the tractor. Trip had claimed that they weren’t involved in the party. But as she thought about the late-night call from the police, summoning her husband to pick the boys up on River Road, Linda’s mouth went dry. As desperate as she was to believe her sons, it would have to be quite a coincidence.

Linda absentmindedly plucked a fading flower from one of the bouquets that Will had set up on the stand and looked at her grocery list. Pasta, Cliff Bars, orange juice, and frozen pizzas. Fuel for two young men who always seemed to be standing in front of the fridge, looking for their next meal. Feeding them was one of the few remaining things they allowed her to do for them. She tried to concentrate on pushing her cart through the aisles, trying not to worry about what was going on with Will. When he needed her, she told herself, he would come to her.

She was still making her way through the produce section when she saw June Jeffries’s mother coming toward her. Linda stopped short. Kim hadn’t noticed her yet, and Linda took half a step, ready to abandon her cart and make a run for it. But it was too late. Kim looked up and they locked eyes.

Linda watched as Kim’s face flushed. Well good, Linda thought. She should be embarrassed. She put her hand back on her cart, thinking that she wasn’t going to be driven out of the supermarket by Kim Jeffries, of all people. Kim may have humiliated her at the school board meeting, but that didn’t mean that Linda had to stoop to her level. Linda summoned all of her self-control and nodded stiffly at Kim. She would be polite but distant.

To her surprise, Kim didn’t ignore her, but instead came barreling down the aisle like she was about to use her shopping cart to mow Linda down. Then she stopped abruptly in front of Linda, eyebrows raised, as if she expected Linda to say something.

Taken aback, Linda tried to maneuver her cart around Kim, muttering, “Excuse me,” but Kim pushed her cart farther forward, blocking the way.