Dear Zoe

Tess’s mother briefly takes medication that makes her foggy, forgetful, and irritable. Tess spends more time with Em, putting her to bed at night while David takes her to school in the morning, which is their routine until Tess leaves to live with her dad.

Tess tells a story that happened in May, four months before Zoe’s accident. In the story, Zoe is almost three and Tess, Zoe, and her mom go to Marsico’s, a nearby grocery store. A young guy named Justin works there, and Zoe loves him because he gives her lollipops. At the store, Mrs. Marsico tells Tess’s mom she’s going to get Justin, and her mother blushes. Tess notes that her mother is very beautiful, while Tess is physically built more like her dad. Tess’s friends comment on how beautiful her mother is, which Tess finds annoying, but then she begins to enjoy the effect her mother has on her guy friends because it’s fun to watch them blush. Justin acts like Tess’s friends do around her mom, but he also takes Zoe behind the counter and plays a game with her as he writes down the items in their charge account. Justin and her mother are mildly flirtatious with each other.