Summary

At the beginning of “Danvers vs. Winthrop” (216), Heather Houston had found a Mounds wrapper hidden in her family’s trash. Considering that her father hated coconut, and her younger twin sisters Carrie and Carmen had fallen entirely in line with the family’s sugar-free lifestyle, Heather suspected her mother.

Susan Houston had been a theater major. After a decade of trying to build a career in New York City, she gave up and returned to Massachusetts, where she met Heather’s father, who played flute for the BSO. She was generally frustrated, but Heather’s father did not seem to suspect this. When she had first met Mrs. Kaling, Mrs. Houston had been offended that the other woman saw her college administrative assistant position as a secretary role. Heather and Julie Minh tried to keep their mothers separated.

Heather took out the...