And solitaire is the only game in town

"It's going to take a while," Junie's mother said to Mattie about Junie getting back to her old self. "She doesn't remember anything."

"Not even us?" Mattie tensed as if she couldn't even imagine what Junie might be going through.

"Oh, the doctors seem to think it'll happen. She can do so much. I mean. She can write. She can speak. She's going to be OK. It's like she's blocked some things out." Her mom made it sound as if it were temporary, but that temporary would take time. It overwhelmed Mattie. After all, she was Junie's cousin. She thought of her as a little sister. She couldn't help but break down into tears. 

Her mother was crying too. "I don't know how to be optimistic anymore," Junie's mother sighed. "I mean, I'm grateful. Still, I don't know if we are really out of the woods. Junie is still sleeping a lot. She doesn't want to talk to me. And..and I know it's all my fault."

"Have you contacted her father?" Mattie felt that might help. She knew Junie didn't really know him.

"Why would I do that?" It looked as if it would pain her to call him, even on the phone.

"Then, why don't you let me, he needs to know." Mattie sniffed back tears.

"But."

"Look, no one would ever tell me about my own father. As if it were the end of the world. But it wasn't." Mattie was serious.

"Oh, God," her aunt said under her breath. She sniffed back tears, too. "I just- I just can't. OK?" Her voice rose with emotion as she blinked tears. "Wasn't like he was ever around when I needed him, and when he was, I thought he was going to kill us." Her jaw clenched. Junie's father was bipolar. 

"Well, maybe he's changed now." Mattie was straight-lipped. "Just let me contact him for you. If he doesn't care. He doesn't care."

"Mattie, can you stop wanting to help so much?" 

Mattie knew she hit a nerve, but still, she knew it was the right thing to do.