FISHER HOME

No matter how many windows she opens, Paula finds the house too suffocating to remain inside for the entire night. Once she is outside, though, even the summer night’s air is not enough to help her breathe more easily.

She startles when she hears the sliding door open. Looking back, she sees Molly coming out to join her on the deck.

“Brent hasn’t called yet,” Molly says, anticipating her mother’s question.

Paula stares into the dark backyard. “How could Helen be so stupid? If Sophie--” She stops herself mid-sentence. Mid-thought, really. It is too much.

“She’s desperate. That’s how it seems, anyway. She and Don lost Courtney.”

“And now they could lose Sophie, too.” The very idea makes her want to scream, makes her want to rush out of the house and do something.

“I’m sure she realizes that now.” Molly drapes an arm around Paula’s shoulders. “But she’s spent all this time convincing herself that Jason is, I don’t know, dangerous, or at least not cut out to take care of Sophie properly. Do you remember how we felt when we thought Tim was dead and it seemed like Diane was going to take Samantha away?”

“Of course.” Sometimes it seems easy for Paula to block out all the pain that Tim’s disappearance caused, because it was such a miracle when he returned to them. But it still catches her off-guard at times, in the dead of night or in a stray moment. Those feelings will never truly fade, certainly never be forgotten.

“I don’t know why I’m defending her,” Molly says, “but I can sort of understand it. Not that it makes what she did okay.”

“No. Nothing can make it okay.” Paula sighs. “Thank goodness Brent is working on this, though. It makes me feel a little better.”

“Yeah. If anyone can save Sophie, it’s Brent.”

Something in Molly’s voice makes Paula look over at her daughter. Sure enough, Molly is now the one gazing off into the distance, at nothing in particular. As reasonable as she is trying to sound, the discussion of her barely-ex-husband is clearly having an effect upon her.

“I just want the phone to ring,” Paula says.

“Me, too, Mom. Me, too.”

One . Two . Three . Four . Five . Six . Seven . Eight