“You lost your job, didn’t you?” Avery asked. “Because of me.”

“No,” Marina said, and sat next to her. “I quit that job yesterday because I didn’t want to deal with Patricia any longer. She was never a good person to work for. You know that.”

“She’s a total bitch,” Avery said. “But it never stopped you from working there before. This is Dad’s fault. All of it. And where is he? I didn’t see him in court.”

“He wasn’t there,” Marina said.

“Did he at least give you money for bail?” Avery asked, tears pooling again.

Marina hesitated before answering. This was one of those times when she had to choose between lying to protect Avery’s feelings now and risk the fallout when she found out the truth or tell her the truth and risk being accused of trying to turn her against her father. She glanced over at Halcyon, who frowned and shook her head. Her sister knew she was considering the lie and didn’t think it was a good idea.

“No,” Marina said quietly.

“I hate him,” Avery said, her voice so cold that it made Marina’s heart clench.

“You don’t mean that,” Marina said. “He’s made some bad decisions but he’s still your father.”

“No. He’s not,” Avery said. “Father is an action, not a noun. And you can’t force me to like him. I’m an adult, right? Isn’t that what they established in court? My car is paid for and titled in my name, and since I have scholarships, I don’t need him for money. I’ll get a part-time job for spending and the other things I need. But I will never speak to him again.”

Marina looked up at Halcyon, at a complete loss for how to handle this. What she wanted to say was probably what she shouldn’t say. But what should she say? The universal “they” who wrote all the books on parenting didn’t have a chapter covering this sort of thing.

“Good for you,” Halcyon said and sat on the other side of Avery.

Avery’s eyes widened. Marina started to talk but Halcyon waved a hand at her.

“You know you were thinking the same thing,” Halcyon said. “I don’t blame Avery for hating him. I hate him too. Maybe one day that will be different, but today, it’s a perfectly reasonable thing to feel, and no one should have to feel bad about it.”

Realization ripped through Marina. This is exactly how she’d felt about her mother at one time, but everyone had insisted that she act and believe a certain way. That she was obligated to endure the bad behavior of the woman who’d given birth to her simply because she was her mother. And Marina, being Marina, had gone along with it even though her resentment had grown every time her mother lashed out at her and treated her poorly. She’d spent the first twenty years of her life afraid of her mother. She’d spent another twenty-seven trying to convince herself that one day her mother would change. It was only in the last year that she’d finally accepted that her mother was toxic and was going to remain so until the day she died.