Serena Miller raised her son on science, late-night experiments, and a husband who only came home to drop off laundry that smelled like someone else. When Carter’s favorite teacher dies, she leaves him one last gift: a heavy ethics textbook with a hidden device inside. One green line of light. One frozen moment at the breakfast table. Then the thing vanishes into Serena’s safe.
Years later Carter is a college man who still comes home for her cooking, her legs on the couch, and the blue dress she wore on graduation night. He has a “girlfriend” named Allison who is really a hookup. He thinks about his mother to finish. Serena knows. She has the device. She has a circle of old Den Mothers who used to run Cub Scout packs and now run something else..