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This is no time for one of your Lily breakdowns. Get a hold of yourself. Maddy needs you.”
    Through blurry vision, Lily stared at Tom, shocked he could be so harsh at a time like this. Logic told her he too was barely hanging on, that he wasn’t capable of comforting his wife as well as taking care of his daughter. The words sliced through her anyway.
    Pushing the old memories away, Lily walked over to the end table near the couch and picked up her purse. She dug around until her fingers found what she was looking for. She dry-swallowed two pills, hoping to alleviate the pressure building in her head. The purse slipped off her bent elbow, but she left it lying on the floor. She grabbed her cell phone off its charger and punched in Tom’s number.
    As angry as Lily was at him, she had to admit that what he had lacked in the husband department he made up for as a dad. She’d never seen a more loving, attentive father. That’s why she couldn’t understand how he could suddenly shut Maddy out of his life. It wasn’t like him.
    “Come on . . . come on,” Lily said as the third ring sounded. “You can only duck my calls for so long.” She started pacing. Her strides matched the fury rising up inside as she thought about the message she would leave when the call finally switched over to voice mail.
    “Hello?”
    Lily paused for a moment, surprised Tom had answered. “Why haven’t you returned any of my messages?”
    “Really? Do we have to do this now?”
    “When’s a better time? Next month? Next year?” Lily’s grip on the phone tightened.
    “I’m hanging up now.”
    “No. Wait.” A couple slow exhales helped to stave off the impending explosion she felt. She had to remember why she’d called, not to rehash old arguments, but to plead Maddy’s case. “Tom, your daughter needs you.”
    And so do I.
    “This isn’t a good time for me.”
    “Are you kidding me? Didn’t you listen to any of my messages? Maddy was almost abducted. Nearly ripped away from us. Again. Stop thinking about yourself for one damn minute.”
    Silence answered Lily’s accusation. She thought about how Maddy’s illness had changed them both. They’d put their marriage on hold to tend to their daughter’s needs, but by the time she was out of the woods, they didn’t know how to find their way back to each other.
    “Tom? Tom?”
    A sound of something hard hitting metal reverberated over the phone.
    “Tom?”
    “I’m here.”
    “What am I supposed to tell Maddy when she asks why her father hasn’t called to find out how she’s doing?”
    “I don’t know, Lily. I told you I needed space to work through some things.”
    “It’s been five months. Hasn’t it been long enough? Look, Tom, if you want to start over without me, I can deal with that. But don’t cut Maddy out of your life. She doesn’t deserve it.”
    “I’m not cutting her out. I’m just taking time to work on me. Look, I’ll call her this weekend. I promise. Right now is tough though. I’m on the road and have a big presentation to get through.”
    “One of these days, Tom Eastin, you’re going to regret not being the hero your daughter deserves.”

(7)
MADDY EASTIN
    Maddy watched her mom pace back and forth in front of the couch.
    “I heard you talking on the phone, Mom. Was it Dad? Did he call back?”
    Lily turned around when she heard her daughter’s voice. “No . . . my boss called. He wanted to talk about the schedule.”
    Though Maddy didn’t believe her, she couldn’t be certain her mother was lying. Earlier, she’d been in her bedroom with the music cranked up to keep her mom away, but when she came out to go to the bathroom, she’d heard her talking on the phone. Not loud enough to make out the conversation, but loud enough that the tension in her mom’s voice was obvious.
    She didn’t know why her mom would hide the fact that her dad had finally called. “Whatever.”
    Maddy stomped back to her bedroom, ignoring the rush of her