The Road to Tender Hearts

PJ pays the kid who helped them find Ollie and Luna $5,000 and rents a limousine from the kid’s grandfather to drive them to Arizona. PJ thinks it’s romantic to arrive at Michelle Cobb’s retirement home in a limo.

Ollie and Luna fall asleep. Sophie tells PJ that she can no longer be responsible for him. She did it to help her mom, who couldn’t manage her own grief alongside the burden of caring for her husband. PJ apologizes and tells Sophie he never expected her to care for him and that she can let it go. Sophie says she can forgive him only if he promises to stay sober and adequately care for the children. She will help him, but he must find a way to live independently of her, Ivy, and Fred’s support. She says, “Kate’s death was not the end of things […]” (324) and encourages him to use this opportunity with the kids as a way to move on. PJ doesn’t know how he’ll do it, but he loves Sophie and promises to try.

Sophie looks at the sleeping children and wonders if they will be okay after all they’ve endured.