He slowly released his grip. “Shit, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that. But there’s no point, Delaney. There’s nothing you can do. People will think you’re crazy, or maybe suspect you’re involved somehow.”

I nodded, rubbing my arm, remembering how my parents suspected me in Mrs. Merkowitz’s death.

“I tried to tell you before. I thought it would help to know. You can’t save them. This is hell.”

His eyes were wide and his teeth were clenched, and the overcrowding didn’t look endearing anymore. It looked dangerous. I glanced toward the window. “What are you doing here, Troy?”

“You said you’d come Monday for me to check out the hand. I thought maybe you were avoiding me, and I’m on lunch, so here I am.”

Avoiding him. Right. Because of last night. Was it only last night? “I had a doctor’s appointment that nobody told me about. Sorry.”

He ran his hands over his face, rubbing the tension away. “Okay. It’s okay. I’m sorry, too. So anyway, we should go out tonight. We can talk then.”

“I have plans, actually.”

“With who?” He was showing his teeth, but he wasn’t smiling.

“With Decker. The guy from the pizza place.”

“The neighbor? You’re going on a date with him?”

Then I noticed his front right tooth had a chip, and I wondered whether he got that in a fight or in the accident. I wondered why I hadn’t noticed it when I kissed him. “No, not a date. It’s a play, and it’s for school.”

“You’re a crappy liar, Delaney.” He leaned toward me and took a step closer. “He doesn’t know you.”

“I think you should go now.”

“It didn’t seem like you wanted me to go last night, if I recall correctly.” He was right, and that bothered me. Because I hadn’t noticed the chipped tooth, which was practically glaring me in the face. And if I hadn’t noticed that, what else had I missed? I couldn’t think straight around him. Like vertigo. Like falling.

I heard the garage door open and felt relief in my stomach. “That’s my mom. And I’m not supposed to have company when she’s not home.”

He ran his tongue along his bottom lip and threw his hands up in an I’m innocent expression. He didn’t take his eyes off me as he backed out of the house. And as I swung the door shut in his face, he grinned and said, “Enjoy your evening.”

Mom walked in just as Troy walked out. “I didn’t know he was coming. I swear,” I said, breathing too fast between words.

Mom grinned. A real grin. “That’s okay, honey.” She hung her jacket over the chair and tore at the paper drugstore bag.

“You’re not mad he was here?”

“No, Delaney, though I would prefer if he called before he came next time.” I gripped the edge of the dining room chair, wondering if I had just hallucinated the entire doctor’s office scene. How could she swing between two emotions so rapidly? How could she go from treating me like I was crazy to this?

And then I got it. This was normal. Boy over. Kicking him out before Mom got home. Nothing said normal teenager more than that. She was relieved.

Mom shook a pill into her outstretched hand. “It says to take with food. Do you want a cookie or leftover pie?”

“I can’t take it now. I’m going to Les Mis with Decker tonight. I don’t want to be all loopy.”

“You won’t be loopy. You’ll be better. And anyway, I don’t think you should go out tonight.”

“It was my Christmas present. You told him I could go. And it’s for school. And I’ll take the damn medicine when I get home.”

Mom set her jaw and held her chin high. “You can go if you take the medicine.”

I tried to mimic her expression, jaw clenched and tilted up, but from the look on her face, I knew I wasn’t succeeding. I hung my head. “Cookie,” I said. When she turned for the kitchen, I saw the resilience in her profile for the first time. This person who left her own home and made a life for herself. My mother had dragged herself out of her personal hell. She escaped. So could Troy.

I ate a chocolate chip cookie, threw a pill into the side of my mouth, and excused myself to get ready.

I flushed my new medication down the toilet, and tried to think of how to explain this to Troy. That hell can be temporary. That there’s a way out. So I thought about what Mom did—she left. Okay, Troy had already done that. What else had Mom done? How long had it taken? I couldn’t change his past, I couldn’t change his present, but I could give him something—some hope maybe.