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Not us, Nina would reply, bouncing in her seat and laughing

Meredith could have joined in, could have pretended, but she hadn’t She’d sat in the back, reading her books and trying not to care when a hubcap flipped off or the engine overheated And whenever they stopped for the night and camp was set up, Dad would always coht irl would like to take a walk

Those ten-minute walks orth a thousand miles of bad road

She touched the shiny cherry-red hood, felt its sirl would like to take a walk,” she whispered

He was the one person she would have told about what happened last night

With a sigh, she went to his workbench and looked around until she found three big cardboard boxes She carried them back into the kitchen, set them down on the hardwood floor, and opened the cupboard closest to her She kneas too early to start packing, but anything was better than being alone in her empty house

“I heard you and Nina fighting ”

Meredith slowly closed the cupboard and turned around

Her oith a black woolen blanket draped like a cape around her shoulders Light fro her thin legs

“I’m sorry,” Meredith said

“You and your sister are not close ”

It was a statement rather than a question, as it certainly should be, but Meredith heard so past Meredith for once, or beside her; she was staring right at her, as if seeing her for the first time

“No, Mom We’re not close We hardly ever see each other ”

“You will regret this ”

Thank you, Yoda “It’s fine, Mom Can I make you some tea?”