She didn’t let go of my hand. I don’t know if that was for her, or for me. We were still clutching hands when Dad appeared in the doorway holding a suitcase. He was crying. I’d never seen him cry before, or since. I felt so bad for him I started crying, too.

Then he was gone.

“Don’t worry,” Afton told me, squeezing my hand so tight it hurt. “I’m still here.”

Chapter 33

33

I wake up to yelling. I open my eyes to see Afton and Mom standing at the foot of my bed, squared off like boxers.

Dear god, I think. Here we go.

“That is unacceptable, young lady!” Mom says, in as close to a shout as she gets. “You can’t simply not come home at night!”

“This isn’t my home!” Afton hollers back.

“You know what I mean!”

“I’m eighteen!” Afton yells. “I’m legally an adult. I can do what I want!”

“This is my house—” Mom pauses, jaw clenching. “My hotel room, and as long as you’re part of this family, staying in our rooms, you’ll do what you’re told. It’s not unreasonable for me to ask you to come home at night, and for you to let us know where you are. Who you’re with. What you’re doing.”

“No,” Afton says.

“No?”

“No. And what are you going to do about it? Ship me home? Lock me up?”

“I’m considering it,” Mom says. “I’m surprised at you, Afton. Normally I can trust you to be responsible. Think about the example that you’re setting for your sisters.”

“Oh. That’s nice,” Afton says. “Coming from you.”

I scramble out from under the covers. “Hey, you two, let’s—”

“Stay out of it, Ada,” they both say at the same time, with the same exact inflection.

They are too much alike.

“So I assume you spent the night with Michael Wong,” Mom says. She gives a humorless laugh. “I knew you had a crush on him, and I thought he must be humoring you. But staying out with him all night, that’s—”

“That’s none of your business,” Afton says.

“Everything you do is my business,” Mom argues. “I created you. My body assembled the cells that made you a person. That makes you my business.”

“Doesn’t the human body replace every single cell over the course of seven years?” Afton says.

“And the Wongs are my business,” Mom continues like she didn’t hear. “Billy Wong is my closest colleague. My partner at work. My friend.”

My breath freezes. This would be the most opportune time for Afton to confront Mom about Billy, and I don’t know how to stop her. I don’t know how to stop any of this.