Not even safety, exactly.

A calibration.

A daughter who would know, in her bones, the difference between love and its counterfeit, because she had only ever been handed the real thing.”

Chapter 17 — I Can Help Now

Something shifted in Mike’s face then — I watched the grief start to curdle, the way it always used to, toward a solution he could purchase.

“I can help now,” he said, and his hand went to his jacket, and he pulled out his wallet with fingers that were actually trembling.

“Jessica, listen to me.