NORA POV

Dinner went by quietly that night. Mabel kept trying to start conversations, but I barely said much. Dorcas noticed my silence, yet she didn’t push me. Liora was the only one who talked nonstop about the contest — how the stage looked, how loud the cheers were, and how Phoebe smiled when they called her name.

I just kept smiling at her stories, pretending I wasn’t breaking inside each time she mentioned Phoebe.

After dinner, we all moved to the sitting room for a short while. ...