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One of Landry’s feet freed itself froed toe to loosen the other shoe’s heel, revealing hs, Landry propped her chin in her pals you here today?"

When Eureka was trapped in a bad situation, her mind fled to wild destinations she didn’t try to avoid She ih a ticker-tape parade in the center of New Iberia, stylishly escorting her to therapy

But Landry looked sensible, interested in the reality froht her here The seventeen-h school had brought her here--and every second ticked toward anotherup for that afternoon’s cross-country ht her here

Or was it the letter fro that because of her recently attempted suicide, therapy was not optional but mandatory?

Suicide The word sounded ht before she was supposed to start her senior year, Eureka had siauzy white curtains billoard her as she lay down in her bed She’d tried to think of one bright thing about her future, but her mind had only rolled backward, toward lost ain She couldn’t live in the past, so she decided she couldn’t live She turned up her iPod She sed the remainder of the oxycodone pills Dad had in the medicine cabinet for the pain froht, maybe nine pills; she didn’t count theht of her ht of Mary, mother of God, who she’d been raised to believe prayed for everyone at the hour of death Eureka knew the Catholic teachings about suicide, but she believed in Mary, whose ht understand that Eureka had lost soto do but surrender

She woke up in a cold ER, strapped to a gurney and gagging on the tube of a sto in the hallhile a nurse forced her to drink awful liquid charcoal to bind to the poisons they couldn’t purge froe that would have gotten her out sooner--"I want to live," "I won’t try that again"--Eureka spent teeks in the psychiatric ward She would never forget the absurdity of ju calisthenics, of eating oate kid who hadn’t slit his wrists deep enough, who spat in the orderlies’ faces when they tried to give hi into h, where Belle Pogue, a sophomore from Opelousas, stopped her at the chapel door with "You lared into Belle’s pale eyes, causing the girl to gasp, n of the cross, and scuttle to the farthest pew In the six weeks she’d been back at Evangeline, Eureka had stopped counting how many friends she’d lost

Dr Landry cleared her throat

Eureka stared up at the drop-panel ceiling "You knohy I’m here"

"I’d love to hear you put it into words"

"My father’s wife"

"You’re having problems with your stepmother?"

"Rhoda makes the appointments That’s why I’m here"

Eureka’s therapy had become one of Dad’s wife’s causes First it was to deal with the divorce, then to grieve her mother’s death, now to unpack the suicide attempt Without Diana, there was no one to intercede on Eureka’s behalf, to ined herself still stuck in sessions with Dr Landry at the age of eighty-five, no less screwed up than she was today

"I know losing your ?"

Eureka fixed on the word losing, as if she and Diana had been separated in a crowd and they’d soon reunite, clasp hands, saunter toward the nearest dockside restaurant for fried clams, and carry on as if they’d never been apart

That , across the breakfast table, Rhoda had sent Eureka a text: Dr Landry 3 pm There was a hyperlink to send the appointment to her phone’s calendar When Eureka clicked on the office address, a pin on the map marked the Main Street location in New Iberia

"New Iberia?" Her voice cracked

Rhoda sed soht you’d like that"

New Iberia was the tohere Eureka had been born, had grown up It was the place she still called home, where she’d lived with her parents for the unshattered portion of her life, until they split and her an to resemble a shuffle, like that of the blue claw crabs at Victor’s, where he used to be the chef

That was right around Katrina, and Rita came close behind Eureka’s old house was still there--she’d heard another family lived in it now--but after the hurricanes, Dad hadn’t wanted to put in the time or emotion to repair it So they’d ht-years froot a job as a line cook at Prejean’s, which was bigger and far less roed schools, which sucked Before Eureka knew that Dad was even over herhouse on Shady Circle It belonged to a bossy lady nanant Eureka’s new bedrooress

So, no, Rhoda, Eureka did not like that this new therapist lived way out in New Iberia Hoas she supposed to drive all the way to the appointment and make it back in time for her meet?

Thetheir rival, Manor High Today was the day Eureka had promised Coach she’d make her decision about whether to stay on the team

Before Diana died, Eureka had been named senior captain After the accident, when she was physically strong enough, friends had begged her to run a few suone to had made her want to scream Underclassmen held out cups of water drenched in pity Coach chalked up Eureka’s slow speed to the casts binding her wrists It was a lie Her heart wasn’t in the race anymore It wasn’t with the team Her heart was in the ocean with Diana