Addy suddenly knew that Sharla’d never had a birthday party and was already six years old and just didn’t know it. She took a deep breath and turned to Rita in the back seat. “August. Sharla’ll be six years old August fifteen,” she said, because that was what came to her head. Sharla thought Addy must be magic. They’d never spoken of her birthday. How could Mum Addy know?

Not until she embraced the child that first time did she realize it had been decades since she’d smelled skin and felt flesh. For the longest time, it had been just Addy and the moon.

Cody nodded and returned to his food. Addy willed him to look up again. He stared at Sharla. “Something’s so familiar about her.” She looks like you, Addy screamed in her head. She looks just like you. Earl must have heard her silent scream, for just then he remarked to Cody, “She looks like you, Son.”