Her parents, Sue and Martin Summers, were already seated at the table and waiting for her. She didn’t know why they always insisted on waiting for her to start dinner; she honestly wouldn’t have minded if they were already eating when they got there. She supposed it was some unspoken adult rule that you had to wait until everybody got to the table to eat. Something was different about her parents’ demeanor, though; they seemed almost nervous to her. She decided it would be best not to ask why — if they wanted her to know, they would tell her — so she grabbed a slice of pizza and started eating. Her parents kept glancing at each other, and her mother was barely touching her pizza.
Thus, as her father was eating, her mother spoke first: “Hailey, we have something important to talk with you about.”
