Gretchen closed her eyes and tilted her head back. When she faced Jax again, she looked tired. “I told you where we were.”

“In the vaguest way possible.”

“I would’ve told you anything you wanted if you had answered me.”

“I was at work.”

“This is unbelievable,” Gretchen said with a huff. “I can’t believe we’re having this fight again.”

Jax flinched with confusion. She kept hearing Gretchen speak like that, but it still didn’t make sense. “What do you mean again?”

Gretchen stared and pursed her lips. “Nothing. It just feels like we’re destined to fight, no matter what.”

“Then stop doing things that’ll make me mad.”

“It wouldn’t matter, so you should just go. And I really mean it this time.”

Jax racked her brain for a moment that would clue her in to this past Gretchen kept hinting at. But she had nothing. “What?”

“You won’t believe me, but I know how this plays out. We fight, I tell you to go, you stay, we fight some more and then—” Gretchen pressed her lips together abruptly.

“Then what?”

“Something really bad happens.”

She saw something deep in Gretchen’s dark eyes, and her stomach twisted with dread. It felt like déjà vu, but also bigger and scarier. “To you?”

Gretchen smiled sadly. “I think I get it now. We were never supposed to have a second chance, and trying to make it work last time caused all this.” Gretchen was visibly shaking now.

Jax started to panic. “What are you talking about?”

“Move out. Amanda will stay with me, and then maybe everything will be okay. I mean it. Go be happy with Meredith. Remember all the reasons why you hate me.”

“You hate Mama?”

Both Jax and Gretchen turned to Caleb, who stood at the edge of the room. Jax rushed to him. “Of course not, Cricket. I could never hate her.” Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Gretchen sneaking out of the room. “I love your mother very much,” Jax said, feeling betrayed by the honesty of her words.

Caleb pouted. “Why’d she say you hate her?”

Jax smoothed her palm over his bouncy tight curls and held his small face in her hands. “Her head isn’t quite right, so it’s our job to keep reminding her how loved she is. Think we can do that?” Caleb’s nod lacked confidence, but she pulled him into her arms. “Good.”

She stared at the wall while holding Caleb. She had no idea whether Gretchen’s condition was getting better or worse, but something was very, very wrong.

Chapter Thirty-two

31 days, 16 hours, 24 minutes