"I'm not gonna burn the books," Kate said, laughing. "I'm gonna burn the bookshelf." Then it would be gone and then it couldn't hurt anyone anymore by giving them such complete bullshit and trying to pass it off as help. "Actually, maybe I'll burn the books, too."

They couldn't tell her anything new, after all. They couldn't tell her what had caused her mom to split and they couldn't tell her how to fix it, just like all the doctors couldn't help beyond making sure the right cocktail of pills were taken every day. That wasn't help.

"Just to get rid of it all," she said, trying to pull one match free from the book. "Just to get rid of it and then everything can be okay and no one will have to think about it and it'll just stop. For a little while it can stop and that's not so bad."