“What? Just tell me—what’s going on?” Dad never made me sit. It must be really bad news. Why did people always make you sit down for bad news? I stayed standing.

Meredith tried to appear relaxed, but her anxiety peeked out from behind her smile. Dad’s anger boiled beneath the surface, like he was only keeping it together because I was in the room. His temple throbbed every time he looked at Meredith. He was a teddy bear until you pushed him too far.

“It’s your mother,” Dad finally said after a few more beats had passed.

I nodded. Obviously. I waited for him to say more, but he stayed quiet.

Meredith cocked her head to the side. “Scott?” she prompted.

“What is she talking about, Dad?” A knot of anxiety balled in my stomach.

“I told you I wasn’t sure about this.” He struggled to control his voice. Meredith put her hand on his back and pushed him toward me, like getting him closer would make it easier for him to talk. “Your mother wasn’t taken from the Target parking lot . . .”

I waited for him to go on, but he didn’t. “Where did they take her from?” I asked.

“She left from Target.” Sweat dotted his forehead.

“You just said they didn’t take her from Target.” I sneaked a glance at Meredith. She looked fine. Was Dad in some kind of shock again? This was starting to freak me out.

He sensed my fear and quickly spoke. “Your mom wanted to become a disciple of Love International, so she left everything in her car to join them and walked to their campus. When she got there, she agreed to let them take her in a van—”

“Wait? What? Slow down.” He was talking too fast for my brain to process. Mom left? That’s what he was trying to get at?

“Your mother joined Love International because she wanted to. It was voluntary,” Meredith said. “Nobody kidnapped her.”

I turned to Dad. “I don’t understand. What’s she talking about? Are you saying Mom left us?”

His face contorted like he was in physical pain. “Yes.”

My brain couldn’t wrap itself around his words. “No, she wouldn’t leave us. You said she would never leave us. Dad?”

Tears streamed down his cheeks. Meredith stepped toward me. “She told us last night and confirmed it again this morning—”

“You found out last night, and you’re just now telling me?” I shrieked. “What happened this morning? What else haven’t you told me?”

“I’m sorry, Abbi—you were sleeping this morning, and I didn’t want to wake you,” Dad said, reaching out to hug me.

“Seriously? That’s your excuse?” I pulled away. My head swam. Mom had left us, and I’d missed the moment she’d told us why.