Dad, Don't Talk. You're Wearing Yourself Out

The enormity of mom's absence rocked through them. Dad waved an impatient hand over his shoulder before he opened the stove's door and stirred the dying coals. She checked his cell anyway, but it was dead. So Jesse did know more, probably had heard a diagnosis. Joy fought so hard not to be irritated at Jesse, but now she was furious. He was hiding behind her. The ritual evoked a vivid image of helping mom eat her last meal before they took her to the hospital she never came home from.