“Are you hungry?” Leona asks after we’ve been driving for a while.
“What?”
“Food,” she enunciates. “You want any?”
My stomach doesn’t register hunger, but I’m aware that I’ve barely eaten in days. “No, I’m not hungry.”
“You should eat anyway,” Leona says. “Otherwise, you’ll waste away to nothing.”
“What would it matter?”
“It might matter to him.” She jerks her head towards Theo.
I look at the steady rise and fall of his chest and my heart aches all over again. Glancing up, I see Leona’s gaze searching my face. Checking to see how close I am to falling apart completely.
“You noticed, didn’t you?” I ask.
She smiles empathetically. “Your parents weren’t exactly subtle.”
“No,” I murmur. “They needed to make a statement.”
I wipe away my tears as Leona roots around in a cooler at our
