Finally she spotted her standing off to the side of the stage next to a tall man with a tattoo sleeve. Something he said must have been funny, because she was touching his arm and laughing. The sight of her mother yucking it up with some stranger while she’d been combing the whole park for her made Zadie’s blood boil.

She charged toward her. “Mom!”

The man with the tattoos was the first to notice Zadie, followed by Nora, who gave her a curious look. “Hey, hon. What are you doing here?”

“I’ve been looking for you,” Zadie shot back.

The man with the tattoos quietly slipped back into the crowd. Nora glanced after him briefly, then returned her attention to her daughter. “Is something wrong?”

“Yeah. You’re over here flirting instead of taking care of your kid.”

“I’m confused…” Nora narrowed her eyes. “What, exactly, are you accusing me of here?”

“Where’s Finn right now?”

“Finn?” she answered like it was a trick question. “I … I don’t know.”

“You don’t remember leaving Finn alone?”

“What? No!”

“If you don’t remember ditching your daughter, what do you remember?”

Nora looked around. Several other festivalgoers were staring at them now. “Can we wait to do this at home?”

“No,” Zadie said, defiant. “I’ve been waiting for months for you to tell me what the fuck is going on. We’re going to talk about this now.”

Her mother anxiously ran her fingers through her mermaid hair. Zadie suddenly found herself resenting the fact that Nora’s hair matched hers. “I don’t know what you want me to say.”

“Okay. I’ll talk, then.” Zadie squared her jaw. “I don’t want you around Finn anymore. She’s not safe with you.”

“Zadie—”

“You’re a bad mom.”

The hardness in Zadie’s voice cut right through Nora. She could see it in her mother’s eyes.

“You don’t mean that,” she said, shell-shocked.

“Then tell me! Tell me why I should trust you.”

With two words, Nora emptied all the breath in her lungs. “I can’t!”

Zadie fell into a stunned silence, as if her mother’s voice was still echoing off the walls of a cave. Then the sobs started. Nora clasped her hands to her mouth as her body rocked and dirty tears stained her cheeks. Zadie stood there awkwardly, unsure of what to do. She’d never seen her mother cry like this. It was unsettling, Zadie thought, to see a grown woman, her mother, nearly choking on her own tears.

Once Nora’s sobs were under control, Zadie mumbled, “Are you okay?”

Her mother nodded, pushing hot tears off her cheeks with the heel of her hand. “I’m fine.”

Zadie was too drained to comment on her hypocrisy. Her mom was not fine. She waited, giving Nora one last opportunity to tell her the truth. When she didn’t take it, Zadie turned her back on her mother and walked away.