“And he stopped believing me.”

“He chose not to,” said Gwendolyn Fairchild. “That’s not the same and I want you to have the right one, because I’ve had seven years and it’s the only useful thing I’ve got.

He didn’t fail to see it. He saw it, and it was going to cost him something, and he put it down.”

Phoebe sat very still.

“Why are you telling me the truth?” she asked.

And Gwendolyn said, “Because there’s nothing left in it for me. You’re twelve. There’s nothing I can get from you. It turns out that when there’s nothing to get, I say true things.