Recap
Hannah gets the note first that implores her to take care of her step-daughter without further information from Owen. Later on, they find Owen’s second note to Bailey that she found left for her in school. Hannah tries to visualize the state her husband was in while delivering the heartfelt note to the locker:
“My eyes focus on the note until the words start to blur. And I can picture what preceded the meeting between Owen and the twelve-year-old in shin guards. I can picture Owen running through the school halls, running by the lockers. He was there to deliver this bag to his daughter. While he still could. My chest starts heating up, making it harder to breathe.”
Like Her Younger Self
Hannah gets a visit from her childhood friend Jules upon hearing the news of her husband’s disappearance. Her current look triggers her childhood memories with Jules since at that moment she looks like her younger self:
“We sit in the kitchen, at the small breakfast table in the sun nook, drinking coffee spiked with bourbon. Jules is on her second mug, her oversize sweatshirt concealing her small frame, her hair pulled back in two low pigtails. They make her look like she is trying to get away with something, sneaking some more bourbon into the mug. They make her look a little like her fourteen-year-old self, the girl I met our first day of high school.”
No Clue
Though Hannah has been left the responsibility to protect and take care of her step-daughter she has no clue how. However, Owen put his trust in her thereby she feels the obligation to do her level best to be a good parent. In this instance she tries to figure out whether Bailey is comfortable during their plane ride:
“I give Bailey the window seat and take the aisle, passengers knocking into me as they make their way to the one bathroom in the back of the plane. Bailey leans against the window as far away from me as she can get, her arms folded tightly against her chest. She is wearing a Fleetwood Mac tank top, no sweatshirt, goose bumps running up her arms. I don’t know if she is cold or upset. Or both.”
Composure
As their journey of uncovering the truth becomes more intense, Hannah and Bailey begin bonding. Hannah assumes the motherly role to ensure that her stepdaughter processes her emotions without feeling helpless. Therefore she holds back her own tears to let Bailey have her moment:
“I fight back tears, gripping the table, the small table in this happy Austin restaurant—paintings on the wall, bright colors, all of it completely antithetical to how I feel. I will myself to stop, blinking the tears back. A sixteen-year-old girl, who apparently has no one but me, needs me not to cry. She needs me to be there for her. So I pull myself together, giving her the space to fall apart. Letting her be the one to do that.”
