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“Brinley,” Fallon said, her voice dropping to as calm a register as she could manage. “Would you give your mother and me a few minutes to talk?”

“But you just got here.”

“I promise I’ll come sit with you for a bit when we’re done talking.” Fallon squeezed Brinley’s shoulders in another side-hug. “I promise.”

“Okay.” Brinley frowned, but she did start to walk back toward her room.

Fallon waited until she heard the click of the door before she sat down next to Savannah. She moved slowly, scared to frighten Savannah any more than she already was. “What’s going on, Savannah?”

“Nothing’s going on.” Savannah grabbed her plate of food and started shoving bite after bite in her mouth.

Fallon knew she was going to have to take this one step by step. “Why aren’t you telling me?”

“Because it’s none of your business.”

The cold shoulder was unexpected, though it probably shouldn’t have been. Fallon had essentially told her they were over and done, hadn’t she? She’d just meant that she needed more time, and perhaps she needed more information.

“You’re afraid,” Fallon tried again, needing to push for some kind of answer before she would leave here knowing that Savannah would be all right.

“It doesn’t matter if I’m afraid.” Savannah looked Fallon directly in the eye. “It doesn’t affect you.”

“If you think that your life and your feelings don’t affect me, then I’ve been going about this all wrong.” Fallon clenched her fists before purposely relaxing them. She leaned back into the couch and crossed her ankle over her knee. “Because I care, more than I should.”

Savannah paused. “You don’t care.”

“Don’t tell me what I do and don’t feel.” Fallon reached over and touched Savannah’s arm. “I came over because you texted me—or so I thought—and you didn’t answer when I called. You scared me, Savannah.”

“I don’t want to believe you.” Tears were in Savannah’s eyes, and Fallon had no doubt that she was struggling to keep herself under control.

“Then that’s your choice.” Fallon relaxed, determined that she wasn’t going to leave just yet. Savannah was out of sorts, and until she was much calmer, Fallon wasn’t going to abandon her. Still, she wasn’t sure what to say or do if she didn’t know the details. “Want me to entertain Brinley for a bit?”

“If you would.” Savannah wiped the tears from her cheeks. “She needs to do her homework.”

“Please tell me it’s not history. Anything but that.”

Savannah’s look told her it was exactly that.

“Wonderful,” Fallon muttered as she pushed herself to stand. She said nothing else as she left Savannah alone to collect herself.

Brinley was sitting on her bed, scrolling through something on her phone. Fallon prepared herself to be the entertainer of the year tonight. It was what she had to do to make sure that Brinley stayed out of Savannah’s hair for a little while.

Slipping onto the edge of the bed, Fallon glanced at the phone. “Doom scrolling isn’t good for your soul.”

Brinley flicked her gaze to Fallon’s. “What?”

“Get off the videos.” Fallon held out her hand for the phone and put it on the nightstand.

“Dad said Mom won’t call him back.”

“She might not want to talk to him right now.” Fallon looked around the room, hoping that Brinley’s backpack was somewhere close by. “Your mom said you have homework?”

Brinley groaned and rolled her eyes, turning on her side and curling into a ball. “I don’t wanna do my homework.”

“Tough luck, kid. That’s not something you can get out of.”

Brinley pouted and took her sweet time pulling her body from the bed and stomping her way toward her backpack. Normally Fallon would have told her to lighten her feet, but tonight didn’t seem like the night for that.

They spent an hour doing Brinley’s homework together and working through the frustration that stemmed from the fact that they were doing the homework when neither of them really wanted to. Finally they closed the last reading book, and Fallon stretched her back, putting her hands on the small of her back as she added pressure to make the ache go away.