Jodie sat on the back porch steps, knees pulled to her chest, watching her mom and dad through the kitchen window. The scene was almost painfully normal. Her mom laughing. Her dad gesturing wildly with a sponge. The smell of grilled chicken still lingering in the warm evening air.

Then Scott's phone buzzed on the patio table. Once. Twice. Three times in rapid succession.

The back door slid open and her dad stepped out, phone pressed to his ear, face doing that complicated thing it always did when he was trying to act calm and failing miserably.