Far From the Tree

Grace begrudgingly returns to school for the first time since giving birth. She knows she “can’t stay home anymore” (96), but she is still nervous about facing Max, her old friends, and the rest of the student body. When Grace arrives, she shares an awkward greeting with her old best friend, Janie, and when she introduces herself to Janie’s new friends, they treat her as if she “introduced herself as Rasputin or Voldemort, a name that must not be said” (99). Grace endures lots of stares, and when she makes it to third period, she is taunted by Max’s friends. Max does little to stop his friends from tormenting Grace, including Adam, who plays the sound of a baby crying on his phone. Grace remembers Peach’s cries, and she attacks Adam and punches him repeatedly in the face. Grace is flooded with adrenaline, and she even “smile[s] when she punche[s] Adam for the third time” (106). Grace runs and hides in the boy’s bathroom and bursts into tears. Her presence surprises a boy named Rafael, or Rafe, who enters the bathroom and finds her crying on the floor. Rafe is new to the school, so he doesn’t know about Grace’s pregnancy, and he is kind and tries to cheer her up with jokes. He “flip[s] the lock on the bathroom door and [comes] to sit down next to her” (109), and although he has no idea why Grace is crying, he comforts her and listens as she vents about Max and Adam. Grace can’t get the sound of Peach crying out of her head, and eventually, she and Rafe sit in silence. Grace’s mom comes to the bathroom door to bring her home, and “that [is] the last day of Grace’s junior year” (110).

After meeting Joaquin, Maya is haunted by the stories of his time in foster care. She keeps thinking about how Lauren is biologically related to their parents, while Maya is not, and how Maya’s parents told her that she was “chosen [to be their daughter] because she was special” (111). Still, Maya wonders if her adoption was a mistake her parents regret. Claire encourages Maya to talk about what’s on her mind, but Maya refuses. A few days later, Maya and Lauren find wine bottles hidden around the house, “wedged in the back of the closet, nestled into a pair of old boots” (114) and “in the garage” (115). Together, they pour out the wine and wonder if their mom has been drinking and driving or if their dad knows about the extent of her drinking problem.

One night, Maya and Lauren’s parents sit them down and tell the girls what they already suspected: They are separating, they “[love] both of their girls so, so much,” and this decision “[has] nothing to do with [Maya and Lauren] at all” (120). They explain that the girls will spend time with their dad at his apartment on the weekends, and the girls will stay in the house with their mom. They promise to “try to make this as easy as possible” (120) for Maya and Lauren, and Maya scoffs and thinks about the rampant fighting of the last 10 years. She runs to the park and meets Claire, and as Maya breaks down crying, she finds herself at a loss for words and too overwhelmed with emotion to express herself. She begs Claire to stay with her, and Claire comforts her and says she is “not going anywhere” (122).

Joaquin remembers the first time he met his therapist, Ana. When they first met in Ana’s sterile white office, it reminded Joaquin too much of “thin white sheets on a bare cot, of restraints and chafing on his wrists” (123). Now he and Ana meet in a diner for their therapy sessions. Ana asks Joaquin about his first meeting with Grace and Maya, and he admits that although he likes his sisters, he can’t stop thinking about how they were adopted and he wasn’t. He realizes that “their parents paid a lot of money to get them” (126), whereas “people got paid to keep [Joaquin], and that still wasn’t enough” (127). He then tells Ana that he broke up with Birdie, which shocks her. When he explains that he did it because he believes that he “could never give [Birdie] what she wants” (129), Ana points out that Joaquin is making assumptions about Birdie. She asks if Joaquin ever told Birdie about the time he was placed on a psychiatric hold at 12 years old. Joaquin says he never told Birdie and won’t tell his sisters about it either. Ana tells Joaquin not to run away from his sisters “like [he] did from Birdie” (131).

Joaquin is still so angry with his 12-year-old self for messing everything up that he wants to forget that his hospitalization ever happened. That night, Joaquin has a nightmare, and Mark and Linda come to his bedside to check on him. He dreamed that his sisters were “standing on the edge of the ocean, calling for him,” but “his feet were stuck to the ground, and he could only watch as they were washed out to sea” (133). He doesn’t tell Mark and Linda this, and he assures them that he is okay.

Grace doesn’t get in trouble for hitting Adam, but the school and her parents decide that she will be homeschooled for the rest of the school year. Grace can run away from school and her bullies, but she “[will] never be able to outrun Peach” (136). One day, Grace’s mom asks her to return an item to a cooking-supply store called Whisked Away. Grace reluctantly agrees, but as soon as she arrives at the shopping center, she becomes nervous and worries about running into any of her classmates. She discovers that Rafe works at Whisked Away, and they begin chatting. No one has told Rafe “why [Grace] punched [Adam],” and when Rafe invites her to get frozen yogurt to “fill [him] in on all the dirt” (142), she tells him that she isn’t looking to date anyone. Rafe assures her that this is a platonic offer, and she agrees.

Grace explains that the guy she punched was her ex-boyfriend’s best friend. She finally admits that she “got pregnant and had a baby last month” (146) and gave her daughter up for adoption. Rafe is surprised but understanding. Grace tells him she was also adopted and recently discovered that she has a biological brother and a sister. When Grace returns home, she finds a letter from Peach’s adoptive parents. They thank Grace for “the beautiful, precious gift” (151) that she gave their family and assure her that they “tell Milly every single day that her biological mother is brave and beautiful and loved her in ways that [they] will never be able to describe to her” (152). Grace is touched and confused by the letter, and she realizes that she has no idea how to live her life without Peach.