The thump at the front door came sooner than Carmen expected, and she didn't feel ready. Erica would need to see, and now that she was outside the entryway, she was humiliated about how she had followed up on the telephone and what she had done. She filled her lungs gradually, then, blew everything out in one rush. Her mom was home, and her dad could be home out of the blue, or not.

At the point when she opened the front door, Erica pushed past her and checked out the family room and in the kitchen. “Where's Robert?”

“He hasn't arrived,” she said.

“Your mother?” Erica asked, and began...