Leah
I drove to Haven House after I left the hospital.
I told myself it was only a quick stop.
That was a lie, but a useful one.
Carol had said Maya still hadn’t answered. Diego had missed homework club. I needed to know what we had before my brain started filling in the worst possible version.
Also, if I spent one more uninterrupted hour in a hospital waiting room full of Lockharts, I was going to start peeling paint off the walls with my fingernails.
Haven House looked the same when I pulled into the lot. Low stucco walls. Cameras under the eaves. The faded blue door that needed repainting. Someone had planted marigolds along the front path again, even though the last ones had died in the heat.
Hope, apparently, was stubborn and bad at gardening.
Carol was in her office with her
