“Your mom called earlier looking for you. She sounded really worried. I knew Kori came here a lot, so I took a chance. What’s this?” Lexi looked at my camping pack. “Did you run away? What happened?”

“Are you going to go running back to my mom and tell her?” I said through my teeth.

Her eyes widened. “Serena, I’m just trying to help. Your mom is worried.”

“Give it a rest, Lex. You don’t have any idea what she’s been trying to pull with me.”

“She cares. She wants to make sure you’re all right. I told her you probably just needed some space.”

I needed space from Lexi, that’s who I needed space from. “Just leave me alone. Please.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” she said, sitting down in the gravel. “You can push me all you want, but I’m staying.” She didn’t cower at my glare. “You want me to be on your side? Give me a reason. What did your mother do that was so horrible?”

I laughed. “Where do I begin?”

“Wherever you want.” Her simple, calm words gave me pause.

I took a deep breath, not sure if I could say the words but speaking them anyway. “Mom’s having an affair with Kori’s father. Kori wouldn’t have been in Golden that night if it weren’t for her.” I watched Lexi closely, waiting for the shock and outrage to spring to her face. But it never did. I spelled it out for her: “If it weren’t for her, Kori would be alive.”

“You don’t know that,” she said.

“See, I told you. You’re always taking her side. She’s been leaving me at night to go and be with him. She’s lied about conferences and double shifts. She wasn’t with me because she was with someone else. Someone more important.”

“You’re more important to your mom than he is,” she said.

I don’t even know why I bothered trying to explain it to Lexi. “Whatever. You don’t understand.”

“You’re right, I don’t understand. I know.” Lexi sat down next to me on the retaining wall and turned, looking in my eyes. “I know you are more important to your mother than he is. I know because I know what it’s like when you’re not. In the house in Aspen Grove, I couldn’t step foot in the media room because that’s where Don kept his state-of-the-art sound system. And, well, you know how kids are always pulling out cables. There was one guy who wouldn’t let me eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches because he hated the way they smelled. One who wouldn’t let me eat anywhere but the kitchen counter because kids leave crumbs. I never once heard my mother say, She’s just a kid. Kids leave crumbs. Deal with it.”