I hurriedly grabbed the sauce I needed for the chicken kiev I was making for dinner and rushed out of the store to go pick up Abbi, but there was a huge smile on my face. I couldn’t wait for tomorrow.

SEVEN

ABBI

NOW

I picked at my orange chicken. It was covered in the perfect amount of sauce, just like I liked it, but I couldn’t bring myself to eat it. I still wasn’t hungry. Dad’s hunger had returned with a vengeance, though. He’d wolfed down all his beef and broccoli and was working his way through Meredith’s leftovers.

“Honey, you have to eat something,” Meredith said. Her eyes filled with concern, and a frown tugged at the corners of her mouth.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m just not hungry. I don’t have an appetite.”

It was hard to eat when there was an armed police officer standing outside your hotel room. Someone from the hospital had leaked Mom’s story, and the media was already swarming the hospital. Marcos had told Dad our security was only an extra precaution, but nobody believed him. Definitely not me. People didn’t carry guns unless there was a reason.

All the excitement I’d felt earlier was gone. Things were even more confusing than before. I burst out crying. Meredith and Dad jumped up from their chairs and surrounded me, sandwiching me between them in a huge hug. The flood of emotions I’d been feeling all day rushed through me.

“It’s okay. Let it out.” They spoke on top of each other. “We love you. We’re here.”

I clung to Dad’s shirt, burying my face in it. I couldn’t remember the last time I had cried so hard. It felt like it wasn’t going to end, and then suddenly it did—from out of nowhere the sobs just stopped. I disentangled myself, awkward and embarrassed by my outburst. For the second time today, Meredith handed me a tissue. Nobody had told me it would feel like this.

“What’s going to happen?” I asked in a small voice.

Meredith opened her mouth to speak, then shut it quickly, allowing Dad to go first.

“I don’t know, Pumpkin, but I wish I did.” He wrestled with his emotions before continuing. “We’re going to take things one step at a time, just like we did before. You probably don’t remember this, but that’s all I used to say back in the early days—‘Scott, do what’s in front of you.’ I must’ve said it hundreds of times. Sometimes that’s all you can do, and this is one of those times.” He pointed to the food in front of me. “So right now, at this moment, you’re going to do your best to get some food inside you so that your body has nutrients, and then all of us are going to try to sleep, because our minds need it.” He patted me on the back. “That’s it. We’re not doing any more than that tonight. Got it?”

I nodded, picking up my fork. They went back to their seats, and for a moment we all ate in silence.