The Road to Tender Hearts

Luna steals melatonin and other items from the drugstore. Sophie spots her taking a piece of candy, and remembering how she herself was once a shoplifter, she tells Luna to swipe another piece for Ollie. PJ complains about Sophie’s choice of music, but Luna declares she likes it as the two are forming a friendship. Luna gives Ollie and PJ melatonin, and they fall asleep. Sophie passes a memorial on the side of the road for a teenager killed in a car accident.

PJ has been sober for almost a month, but afternoons are still the hardest, and he craves a drink. They arrive at Niagara Falls, and PJ brings Pancakes with them on a leash. They skip the boat tour of the falls and stare in wonder at the majestic view. PJ thinks about how easy it would be to jump over the rails and recalls the suicidal ideations he had after Kate’s death, where he thought about jumping off a bridge.

Luna asks to visit the Niagara Falls Wax Museum. The woman running the museum says that cats aren’t allowed inside, but PJ claims Pancakes is his “service animal” since he has a heart arrhythmia. While Ollie, PJ, and Sophie read the plaques describing the people who have successfully gone over the falls, Luna explores by herself. She finds a wax statue of Abraham Lincoln, whom she imagines as her real father, Mark Stackpole. She introduces herself to him, but when she shakes his hand, part of his arm detaches. Luna doesn’t know what to do, so she shoves the arm inside her bag, and they leave the museum without anyone knowing. Only Pancakes notices that, as they drive away, someone in a yellow raincoat goes over the fence and into the falls.

They check into the hotel, where PJ lies to get Pancakes inside, saying he’s a “service cat.” Sophie announces that she’s going for a run and then plans to go to bed. PJ puts Luna and Ollie to bed, but they want a bedtime story. He tells them how he met Michelle Cobb at a school dance. At the time, Michelle was dating Ricky Fafard, but PJ danced with her anyway, making Ricky angry. Ricky confronted PJ in the bathroom with a knife. He lunged at PJ, cutting his finger, but passed out at the sight of blood. Everyone thought PJ hit Ricky, and he went to jail. He says Ricky never woke up from the head injury and is still in a coma today, but the kids don’t believe him.

Sophie has run five miles, taken a marijuana gummy, and is already in bed. PJ is sad because he feels he barely knows his daughter and wants to talk with her. He knows from Ivy that Sophie never finished college and that Ivy and Fred want her to go back to school to become a speech pathologist. Ivy has also told him Sophie exercises a lot. He worries that after Kate’s death, he and Ivy overcompensated by making Sophie the center of everything and never talking about Kate or what happened. Feeling lonely, PJ decides to go to the hotel bar, thinking that he can enjoy the company of others but not drink.

A man knocks on the hotel door, and Luna answers. He has Pancakes, who must have escaped. Luna thanks the man for returning their cat and snuggles with Pancakes in bed. She asks him, “What is going to happen to me and my brother?” The cat answers “Suffering […] And Joy” (139), but Luna can’t understand it. She is thankful to have the cat, whom she sees as a friend.

“Day 2, Wednesday”

PJ enjoys a romantic tryst with the hotel owner, Edna, in the presidential suite, and they return to the hotel room where the children are sleeping. Sophie wakes up next to Edna, and when she discovers what her father did, she is angry and disgusted. PJ didn’t drink anything but Diet Coke at the bar, and Edna, who is also in recovery, corroborates his story, but Sophie doesn’t believe it. Hearing Sophie and PJ argue makes Luna think, “[…] there were no adults [she] could count on” (145).

When they check out of the hotel, they learn that Edna has given them their stay for free. Luna and Ollie ask to buy souvenirs in the gift shop, so PJ uses the ATM to get them cash. After he withdraws money, he realizes that he only has $21,000 left from his lottery winnings. He regrets not investing or saving more of the money, but once they get to Arizona, he plans to get a job. He gives each child $100, which Sophie argues is absurd. PJ wants to tell Edna goodbye, but no one has seen her that morning since she went to the presidential suite to take a nap. The man who returned Pancakes the previous night has died after accidentally getting locked inside the sauna.

Sophie is still angry with PJ for leaving the kids and going to the bar. PJ reasserts his sobriety and offers to walk the line to prove it. Sophie realizes that PJ took Fred’s car and thinks this entire trip is a mistake. PJ assures Sophie that he is a good person, as evidenced by his taking the kids. Ollie had thought PJ was applying to adopt them and is hurt by the idea that PJ was a last resort. Luna gets angry at the insinuation that they’re “unwanted,” and cuts off a piece of Sophie’s hair. Sophie is infuriated and curses at Luna, who instantly regrets the impulsive reaction. Sophie recalls her school guidance counselor calling her “damaged” after an accident in the wake of Kate’s death lacerated her wrists in a way that looked like a suicide attempt. Luna apologizes to Sophie, and Ollie says that their mother would have “whooped” her and their father would have “killed” her for cutting Sophie’s hair.

They stop at Target for snacks, and PJ takes Pancakes with them inside. He enjoys the attention Pancakes brings him from women. One woman pets Pancakes, and the cat knows that she will die a few days later during surgery. Sophie buys a pair of scissors and goes to the restroom to even out her hair. She searches for Luna, worried that she’s shoplifting, and finds her poring over an issue of Soap Opera Digest. Luna shows Sophie a picture of Mark Stackpole and explains that she believes him to be her real father and that PJ promised they could go to California to find him. Sophie fears her father lied to Luna, but when she sees that Mark is attending a soap opera convention in Texas, she suggests they try to find him there.

Sophie chastises her father for promising to help Luna find Mark. PJ defends himself, saying it was the only way to get Luna to start talking again. Sophie says she’s taking charge of the road trip and announces that they’ll divert to Sugar Land, Texas, to find Mark. Sophie secretly hopes they find Mark and that he is the children’s father because she fears her father isn’t the proper guardian for them.