“I stand by what I did,” Meredith said. “She didn’t give me any choice.”

“How’d you record it?” I asked.

“I ordered the camera I use for the birds in the backyard and hooked it up the same way.” She pointed to the top of the refrigerator. “Then I put it up there.”

“You’ve been recording all of us?” I asked. My mind flitted through anything that had happened in the kitchen in the last few days. I had nothing to hide, but I felt slightly violated at the idea of Meredith watching me when I didn’t know. There was definitely something wrong about it.

Meredith turned to Dad, bypassing me altogether this time. “It’s been up there for two days, and I just reviewed the video from last night, and guess who snuck down to the kitchen to make another midnight phone call?”

“I can’t believe you would invade my privacy like that,” Mom cried.

“Your privacy? You’re in our house. We have a right to know what is going on underneath our roof.”

I turned to Dad. Every part of his body tensed with anger.

“I don’t even recognize you anymore,” he said to Meredith, shaking his head in disgust.

“Me?” Meredith yelled. “Why is everyone mad at me for this? She’s a liar!”

Dad stepped closer to her. The veins in his neck popped out, and his voice shook with anger. “We are supposed—”

“No. No. No.” Mom moved around Meredith and stepped between them. “Look, stop. Just stop.” She held her hands up in front of Dad, just like he’d done a few seconds ago to her and Meredith. “We’re not going to do this. Not this. I’ll go. It’s time.”

“What? No, you can’t do that,” Dad said. His anger was immediately gone and replaced with concern.

“It’s what’s best for everyone.” Her eyes filled with tears.

Dad’s voice cracked. “Where will you go?”

“I’ll stay in a hotel until an apartment opens. I—”

I jumped up before she finished her sentence and raced upstairs as fast as I could. I flung open my closet door and dug around for my duffel bag. I found it stuffed underneath a pile of empty shoeboxes. I flung it over my shoulder and headed back into my room, where I tossed in clothes before hurrying to the bathroom for my toothbrush and deodorant. I heard sounds in Mom’s bedroom and hurried in there.

She was stuffing things in Shiloh’s diaper bag, like I’d done with my things. She’d already folded the towels they’d used in the bathroom and placed them in a neat stack at the end of the bed.