She looked down at her tea. “Sometimes.” Then, “Not completely.”

Honesty entered the room quietly, but it changed the air. Sophie told me Lena had practically raised her after their mother died — their father remarried and moved away, leaving the two sisters to become a family by necessity.

“Lena believes love should protect people from pain,” Sophie said. “When it doesn’t, she blames whoever’s closest.”

“Me.”

“And me.” She closed her eyes. “Mostly me. But she hides that behind worrying.”

“Did she know about the surgery?”