I didn’t understand. Her face was intent, and I could feel my heart fluttering like it had in the museum director’s office before I was fired. This was just another exam I was going to fail. “You want me to imagine what she could say that would make it all okay? Some motivation that would be good enough?”

I knew I’d said the wrong thing. Dr. Lindsey didn’t look disappointed, not exactly, but she took a moment before speaking, and I could tell she was thinking of how to rephrase her question so even an idiot like me would understand.

My eyes scanned the room again. If only she had a clock. If I just knew how close I was to getting off the hook. I’d come in thinking I was doing well, and now I just felt stupid again.

And Dr. Lindsey sighed, a small one, but audible. “Our time is up, Kacy, but I want you to think about this. If I could wave a magic wand and make Aimee disappear, if everything she’d done had still happened but she was just gone—not still working at the museum, not posting on the internet—how would your life look then?”

I thought of the postcard in my bag, still blank, ready like a curse I planned to work. If there were no Aimee … my mind was blank.

I barely registered Dr. Lindsey walking me out to the waiting room, my trip down the elevator, even driving home. A world without Aimee might stretch to the horizon like the Texas sky.

I was in our hall bathroom, stripping the paper with orange-scented spray, when suddenly the floor seemed to buckle and I fell heavily against the wall, groping for something to hold me up. My fingers found the towel rack, but it pulled loose and fell to the ground as I spun around, vomiting into the toilet. Shit.

When my stomach was empty, I went to the sink, washing my hands and rinsing out my mouth. My brow was sweaty, and I splashed water on my face.

Food poisoning or the flu?

The smell of the orange-scented spray that promised to dissolve wallpaper paste seemed overpowering. I left the supplies there on the floor beside the fallen towel rack. Lying down when you were sick wasn’t like lying down when you were depressed. I’d have a big glass of water and a nap on the sofa.

By the time Michael got home, I was feeling better, but not better enough for the fumes. I’d tried once, but it had made my stomach clench and roll again.

“Let me take a look.” He was in the bathroom a long time before he shouted out, “Kacy, come here.”