Summary

After ten-year-old Becca saw Russell and her father talking, Clint confronted her about why she was in John and Russell's barn. He insisted that she should forget whatever she saw and would not let her tell him what she witnessed. He gave Becca a hug that she could not return. He left her with marks on her arms from being grabbed hard by Clint, resulting in her feeling "confused and ashamed by what he'd done to her" (265).

In the present, Becca starts to see how compassionate Jackie is. She tells Becca to say whatever she needs to say to Clint now or else it will be too late. She asks Jackie how to tell if someone is about to die. Becca has watched her father's health fluctuate and thinks that "the better days had been more of an effort for him than she'd...