When the Wolf Comes Home

The boy throws a tantrum over leaving his book and the blanket behind. Jess stops the car to scold him, threatening to leave him behind if he doesn’t calm down. As they continue to drive, the boy reveals that the creature was his father. Jess doesn’t believe him, despite the boy’s attempts to explain that his father becomes a monster when he gets mad. She interprets the boy’s explanations to mean that his father physically abused him.

Jess remembers that Margie is dead and grieves for her. She considers turning the boy over to the police but then remembers that she could be arrested for shooting an officer. She also remembers that the police were powerless to stop the creature when it found them at Margie’s. Cookie calls Jess’s phone.

Cookie lives at the Sky Blue Senior Freedom Residences, a luxury retirement home. She leaves a residence party out of frustration with her neighbor, Mona, who keeps bragging about her son, a neurosurgeon. Cookie is concerned for Jess. She understands that Jess’s grief is unique from her own because Tommy was her father. She is afraid of losing her relationship with Jess, especially since she is anxious about a secret she has been keeping from Jess.