The constant preparation and sharing of food is a central symbol representing the deliberate practice of love, nurturing, and family cohesion in a world fraught with anxiety. In the face of a mysterious internal illness and a shocking external tragedy, the acts of making coffee for her father, preparing waffles for her children, or simmering short ribs become rituals of care that attempt to impose order and normalcy on chaos. When Willa finds out that Jamie consulted for RCX, she locks herself in the bathroom to get sick, and all Rocky can do is bake muffins. Furthermore, the day before Jamie and Maya plan to visit, instead of writing an article for work, Rocky is “simmering lentils in a slow cooker full of wine and herbs” and baking “a huge pan of rosemary-scented focaccia” (123). In both instances, Rocky turns to comfort when faced with helplessness. Because she cannot nurse Willa and because she has no idea how the visit with Jamie will go, Rocky turns to cooking to create a sense of comfort, normalcy, and order. Food is the family’s primary love language, a tangible expression of connection that pushes back against the novel’s pervasive sense of dread. For Rocky, whose love for her children is “twinned with a potential for loss so unimaginably deep and powerful that it was like a black hole lurking just outside our window” (18), cooking is an act of defiance against the precariousness of happiness. It is a way to nourish and protect the bodies of her loved ones, creating moments of shared joy and sensory pleasure that anchor them in the present. This is evident when she prepares everyone’s favorite dishes for Thanksgiving. The symbol of cooking and preparing food suggests that while happiness is fragile, the daily, intentional acts of care are the essential tools for sustaining it, offering a powerful, if temporary, antidote to the randomness of tragedy.