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My dad shook his head and simply sighed.

After my coughing fit subsided, I gave her a look of pure disbelief.

“You did not just⁠—”

“Oh, don’t tell me you haven’t noticed,” Jamie said, like I was the ridiculous one. “How old is he? Like your age?”

“He’s twenty-five,” I said quickly.

“Stop saying things for shock factor, Jamie,” Mom said, shooting her a pointed look before reaching up to put a hand to her forehead.“That’s her coach.”

“Sorry.” Jamie rolled her eyes. “You guys are no fun.”

I was still reeling when she reached for her phone, glanced at it, and proceeded to stand from the table.

“Well, this has been great and all, but I’m hanging out with some friends tonight, so I have to go.”

“Jamie, your sister is in town. She never gets to see you,” my dad said, his voice taking on a sterner tone.

“You’re all acting like she moved across the country. I can just drive up to see her sometime.” She started for the door, then looked back at the table. “Good to see you, Scar,” she tacked on, and then she was gone.

Out the door in a matter of thirty seconds.

I looked between my mom and dad, wondering if they were going to demand she come back or something, but I noticed then that they looked...tired.

Like maybe they’d already tried that a few too many times and didn’t think it was worth the fight.

“What was that?” I asked after a few moments of stunned silence.

My mom sighed and leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Jamie has been particularly difficult lately.”

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“She’s got a new group of friends, and she’s been acting out.”

“Acting out how?” My voice rose in pitch.

Hold on. The Hales didn’t act out. We followed the rules. Jamie was a good kid, and I’d always been a good kid. Surely she would be too.

“Aren’t you going to call her or something? Tell her she can’t just leave dinner like that?”

My mom looked at my dad, and he sighed.

“We’ve tried a lot of things, Scarlet. This is all new for us. You never gave us a reason to ground you or take away your phone. And every time we do it with Jamie, it just⁠—”

“It makes things worse,” my mom said, shaking her head.

“So you’re just going to let her, what? Get away with being disrespectful?”

“Scarlet, please,” my mom begged, and I shook my head.

“Sorry,” I mumbled.

“We’ve been trying to figure out the best way to approach her,” my dad said.

“Is this just about her bad attitude, or is there something else going on?”