After clearing her throat, she responded to her mom’s greeting, “Hi, Mom. How are you?”

Natalie left Whitney alone in the kitchen, ambling into the family room. She leaned her back against the counter and stared out the window. Across the way, the guy’s kitchen was dark. Empty. She focused in on the plant he had in the window. The green, curving leaves, the bright blue planter.

“Good. How about you?” She could picture her mom standing elegantly over the kitchen counter, elbow rested on top, phone to her ear. Her platinum bob was no doubt brushed neatly, not a strand out of place. And even though she’d probably only gone to the store today, she was most likely dressed formally, full makeup on. Her mom had never known how to have a scrounge day.

Whitney could keep this up. Say she was fine. Answer a few questions about her work, Amelia’s schooling, possibly the weather, or her mom might share a tidbit about one of her neighbors, a person Whitney had never even met. Then her mom would say it was nice talking to her and hang up. It was a script Whitney had memorized. They rarely veered from it. Today would seem like the day to go off-book, but Whitney wasn’t even sure how to do that.

What would her mom do if she told her about Amelia?

Would she empathize? Try to help? Or would she criticize? Accuse? Make Whitney feel worse?

Whitney wasn’t sure. That was the problem.

Their relationship had been strained all of Whitney’s life. She’d seen pictures from when she was an infant and a toddler, heard stories from others about that time period, and it appeared that her mom had been an attentive, loving parent back then. Maybe if her brother hadn’t been born with cystic fibrosis, that would’ve continued. But from the time Kevin came into this world when Whitney was five, her mother’s whole existence was about him—his breathing treatments, medications, hospital stays. Her parents’ main focus in life was keeping him well. The logical part of her understood. Her brother was ill. He needed constant care. That wasn’t his fault. She’d often felt sorry for him. Felt bad that he’d been dealt such a shitty card in life. But her empathy toward him had always been overshadowed by her jealousy. By her longing for a relationship with her parents that only he had.

He hoarded them, hearts and all, and deep down she hated him for it.

She’d watched her mom care for Kevin for years. Comfort him. Meet his every need. Perhaps, she was being too hard on her mom. Maybe if she knew about Amelia she’d rise to the challenge. Be here for Whitney.