Just “wow,” so that you couldn’t even say exactly why it was mean, except that you knew it was. “Beth Landsman’s daughter is the class queen bee,” her mother had said to Annemarie last year, and Annemarie said, “Well, of course she is. Apple, tree.” The code. Ali had never really cracked the code. She’d called Annemarie, who was supposed to come for the weekend but hadn’t. Maybe, as close as the two Annes were, Annemarie could tell her what her mother would have said about Jenny and Jenny’s father. She’d left a message and Annemarie hadn’t called her back. Then she’d left another message, and
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