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too.”
    “—by going on a cruise.”
    “A
cruise
?”
    “Mom’s never been on one and thinks this is the perfect way to celebrate with the entire family.”
    “You’re not serious.”
    “I am.”
    “Sarah!”
    “It’s what she wants, and she’s really excited about the idea, and she asked me last week to handle the logistics. She was going to announce it Sunday night at her house, but then didn’t think the timing was right with Cass so upset.” Sarah paused, and Kit could hear her rustling through a stack of paper. “Mom suggested mid-February as a possible date. She thought you had a few days off next month around Presidents’ Day weekend and asked me tolook into different options. There’s a seven-day cruise out of L.A. on the eighteenth that goes to the Mexican Riviera. And before you say it’s too expensive, it’s Mom and Dad’s treat. I’m to book five cabins. You’d share with Bree, of course.”
    Of course, Kit thought, because not only was Bree her fraternal twin, but Bree was also the only other single in the family. “Does everyone know?”
    “I sent an e-mail to the others a couple of hours ago and heard back from Meg and Cass, but haven’t heard from Bree yet.”
    Kit wasn’t surprised, finding it impossible to picture her bohemian, rebel twin, who worked as a tropical disease nurse in Africa, on a cruise ship. But if the cruise was for their mom, it’d be very hard, if not impossible, for Brianna to say no. “Cruises aren’t exactly Bree’s thing.”
    “Not exactly my thing right now either,” Sarah confessed, “as the timing is terrible for us, especially Boone, who is training hard right now, but as it is for Mom, we can all suck it up for seven days.”
    “You’re right.”
    “So get a substitute teacher lined up for February eighteenth to twenty-fifth. Boone’s trying to get permission to arrive at spring training a day late. He was supposed to report to Port Charlotte on the twenty-fourth, but hopefully Joe Maddon will allow him to join us. It’s probably the last time we’ll all be together.”
    For a moment Kit couldn’t speak. “I’m holding out for Easter. I think Mom can make it until then.”
    “That’s three months from now.”
    “I know. But Mom’s hanging in there—”
    “You’re not being realistic.”
    “Maybe you could be a little more optimistic!”
    “And what? Not be prepared for the call that you’ve moved her into hospice care? That I need to jump on a plane and come say good-bye?”
    “Why are you even talking like that?”
    “Because it’s real.”
    “I
know
it’s real. I spend every weekend at the house with Mom. I can tell she’s weaker. Frailer. But I’m not going to let her go without a fight—”
    “You make it sound like I’m pushing her into the grave!”
    “Well, aren’t you?”
    “No! I’m planning a damn cruise, Kit!”
    “You don’t need a cruise to see her, Sarah. Just get on a plane and come out here. Come see Mom. Sit with her. Spend a weekend with her, like I do.”
    “You don’t think I want to? You don’t think I look at my calendar all the time, trying to figure out which days I could go, how many days I could be gone, who I could get to stay with the kids so I could see her?”
    “Never mind. Let’s just forget this—”
    “She’s my rock, Kit. Mom has been everything for me.” Sarah drew a short, sharp breath. “When things get crazy with Boone, I call her. When I need her, she comes. When I need someone to talk to, Mom’s there. Mom is a saint—” She broke off, and Kit could hear her breathe over the line, inhaling hard, exhaling just as hard. It was like a fish pulled out of water. She was gasping for air. Fighting to breathe.
    “She
is
a saint,” Kit said softly, gently, surprised but not shocked that things had escalated so quickly. Losing Mom was absolutely devastating, and Sarah was the baby. Sarah had been Mom’s little girl the longest. But then, from the time she was born,