I waited until we were home and Sheryl was in bed to ask Uncle Bill why my brother was off the team, even though I was so worried I wanted to cry. Sky still wasn't home.

"Green or raspberry?" Uncle Bill asked softly. We were giving each other silent company in the kitchen.

"Pardon me?"

"Green or raspberry tea?"

"Oh. Sorry." I didn't really care, but I replied, "Raspberry, please."

He set a mug in front of me and sat down at the table. I toyed with the tea bag distractedly.

"Did your brother or sister say when they'd be home?" Concern filled his kind blue eyes.

I shook my head again.

"Are you mad at me, Lyric?"

Looking up at him in surprise, I insisted. "No, I'm not mad at you at all, Uncle Bill. I'm just…Was it you that suspended Sky?"

Taking a sip from his steaming tea, he nodded. "I had to."

"What happened? What did he do?"

"The coach from Roosevelt thought that Sky's comeback was a bit too miraculous." He sighed. "So he requested that Sky take a drug test."

"Excuse me?" I snapped.

"I told Sky that he had to take it. But if he couldn't take the test right now, he could hold off until he could pass it, but he'd be off the team until then. It was his choice." Uncle Bill looked me in the eye. "He picked the suspension."

My stomach flipped. "But Sky's not into that stuff."

"I don't know, Lyric. He's such an angry kid. I don't know how to reach him. I don't know where he got the stuff or if he's done it before…I don't know how to reach him."

"Well for starters, don't accuse him of doing drugs."

"Lyric, your brother was incredibly stoned tonight. It was not a blind accusation." He put a hand over mine. "I'm really sorry, kiddo."

"What is wrong with him?" I demanded, tears spilling down my cheeks. "Why doesn't he care about anything he's got? He doesn't care about football or me and Summer or himself--"

"We'll get him help," Uncle Bill promised. "Don't cry, okay, Lyric, you can't help him by making yourself miserable over him."

"I love him," I murmured. "I don't want to lose him."

"I'm gonna tell you something, all right?" When I nodded, he went on. "Your mom got pregnant with Sky and Summer when I was in my sophomore year of college. We had never been close, but that put an even bigger strain on our relationship. It wasn't because she had gotten pregnant; that didn't matter to me, I still loved her. It was the fact that she didn't seem to care that bothered me. She drank, she smoked…but you all came out okay. Then I visited her once when you were maybe two years old, and she was alone, your dad hadn't stuck around…"

"I don't know who my dad is," I said.

"Neither do I. I don't know if she did either." He continued, "But when I came to see her, she was high. That was the last time I saw her. It disgusted me that she would rather get blitzed than take care of her kids."

"She loved us," I told him. "But she never wanted us."

"Your mom was beautiful. She just made a lot of mistakes."

I looked up at him sharply.

"You were not one of her mistakes." He smiled. "You remind me of how beautiful she could be."

Tears welled up in my eyes again. "Thank you." He nodded. "I'm going to go to bed though. Night, Coach."

I climbed the stairs to my room feeling closer to my mom, but ready to let go of her.