“It’s more than AA,” my mom said, then shuddered hard. “I’m telling you. When Vince came here to get Cassie today, I didn’t even want to let her go with him. He seemed, I don’t know, deranged.”

“Deranged?” My dad laughed again.

“Okay, fine, maybe deranged is a bit much,” she said. “But seriously off. I even considered calling Karen about it.”

“You didn’t, though, right?” my dad asked nervously. Things between my mom and Karen had occasionally been rocky. My mom had thought “fitness camp,” in particular, was a terrible idea, especially for Cassie. And she told Karen as much. Their relationship had never fully recovered.

“No, but only because she must already know what he’s like, right? This isn’t the first time he’s been back from the Keys.”

“I’m sure she knows,” my dad said. “And everything is relative, you know? Karen is probably glad Vince isn’t an angry drunk anymore.”

“He got ordained, too, did you hear that?” she said. “Some kind of online thing.”

“There are worse things than becoming an internet minister.”

“I know,” my mom said quietly. “And I’m not trying to be judgmental. But I just—he gave me such an awful feeling. Like hair standing on end. He seemed so angry underneath all that Zen. And at us, Ben. Why would he be angry at us?”

“He wouldn’t be. He’s not,” my dad said. “Listen, Vince has always had issues. Maybe he feels like we took Karen’s side in the divorce. We kind of did.”

“I don’t know, I still—maybe we should warn Karen,” she said. “We might regret it if we don’t.”

“And we could regret it if we do,” my dad said. “I mean, things with Cassie and Wylie—I don’t think we want to rock the boat any more than it already has been.”

I winced. I had been hoping I was imagining that things between Cassie and me had been falling apart. It hadn’t even occurred to me that it was so bad my parents had noticed.

“Obviously, Cassie and Wylie are what’s important here,” my mom said. “Anyway, it was only a feeling. And it’s not like reality and my feelings always go together.”

“I don’t know,” my dad said. “In my experience, sooner or later they usually do.”

“WYLIE, IT’S ME.” A whisper, only three words.

I’m awake now. But confused. I must have been dead asleep. And it’s— there’s something pressed over my mouth. So hard I almost can’t breathe. I reach up in the dark, feel a hand clamped down. Kendall? I was wrong. He’s come back to kill me after all?

Suddenly, there is a glistening set of eyes only inches away.

“Don’t scream.” It’s a voice I recognize. One that makes my heart leap.