The steel on her own wrists was part of the answer.

But I want to sit for a moment with the fuller answer to Evelyn’s question, because she had meant it as a statement disguised as a question, an assertion that no one would come, and the truth turned out to be more interesting than a simple refutation.

Because Evelyn was right about one thing, narrowly: I had no family.

No parents, no siblings, no blood relations to call.

In the sense she meant it, the traditional sense, the sense in which family is the people obligated to you by kinship, her taunt was accurate.