Magic Hour: A Novel

Ellie and Julia sit on the porch together at night. Julia says Alice’s speech patterns are of a two-year-old rather than a six-year-old. She believes this is because she grew up in a safe environment for the first two years of her life, before her traumatic event, and that she has not verbally developed past that age. To help Alice, they must make sure that she feels safe. Hopefully, she will increase her vocabulary and be able to tell them about what happened to her.

Julia realizes that she needs to remember that her work helps people; she had trouble remembering that after what happened to Amber. Julia decides to go to Max’s house to tell him about her success. When she gets there, he is in the hot tub, and he invites her in. She strips down to her underwear and joins him. Julia asks why he moved to Rain Valley, and he tells her that he had personal issues in Los Angeles and needed a change of scenery. Julia tells him that Alice spoke for the first time that day, and Max tells her that he knew she could do it. He kisses her, but she pulls away from him and leaves.