“I have no idea. If I tell her the truth, then I’m that parent who’s trying to turn their child against their soon-to-be-ex. If I don’t tell her the truth, she’s sure to find out and then I’ll be that parent who lies. It’s really a no-win situation.”

“Based on what I’ve seen, having children, in general, is a no-win situation.”

“It definitely can be at times.”

“I think you’re going to have to level with her. Especially since Avery has history with the slut. Didn’t Avery’s high school boyfriend cheat on her with that nightmare?”

Marina held up two fingers.

Halcyon’s eyes widened. “Two boyfriends. You definitely don’t have a choice. If she finds out that bit of information from someone else, both you and Harold will be on the permanent outs with her. So I say throw him to the wolves. This is, after all, completely on him.”

“You’re right. I know you’re right.”

“But?”

“But it feels so mean.”

“It is mean. Mean for Avery to have to hear something like this about her father. Not mean of you to have to tell her. You owe her the truth. You’re not the bad guy here and no way should you take any of the blame. If I get even a whiff of blame-accepting on your behalf, I swear to God, I’ll drive to the university and tell her the whole sordid truth myself. Right down to the colors of that new nightie.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“I would and I will. Look, I’m not trying to come down on you but life as you knew it just ended, which means Marina as you knew her needs to end as well. This is no time to be the nice guy. You saw how Harold acted this morning. And if you hadn’t gotten mad, you’d have ended up leaving with nothing. You have to start putting yourself first. You’re not a bad person for taking care of yourself.”

Marina nodded. Once again, she knew her sister was right, but why did it seem so hard? Had she spent so much of her life catering to others that she’d forgotten she deserved some of her time as much as anyone else? Her mother was being cared for by professionals. Her daughter was away at university. Snooze wasn’t any work. He slept for twenty-three hours out of the day and seemed as allergic to exercise as she was.

Maybe Halcyon was right. It was time for Marina.

“I’ll call her as soon as we get back to your house,” Marina said. “The cell phone service is sketchy out here and I don’t want this conversation to be a mess of bad connections.”

“Yet another reason to reconsider moving into the marsh—the lack of reliable connections to other people.”

Marina just nodded. It wouldn’t do to tell Halcyon that was the thing she was happiest about.

“I’m going to put together a list of supplies,” Marina said. “I can probably find most of the things I need at the hardware store. If they don’t have it, I can either take a drive up the highway to Home Depot or see what I can find on Amazon.”