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Bailey is the story’s co-protagonist. Only sixteen, Bailey is still maturing from a child into an adult. Her complicated relationship with Hannah forms an essential component of the book’s conflict, although readers only experience Bailey through Hannah’s perspective. Just as Hannah must often surmise what Bailey is thinking or feeling, the novel leaves readers to deduce Bailey’s emotions and thoughts. As Hannah herself admits, Bailey is a good kid, and she sometimes responds positively to Hannah’s attempts to bond rather than always pushing them away. Bailey knows that Hannah is part of her life now and appreciates when Hannah demonstrates respect for her boundaries. Bailey’s previous experiences do not include a mother, so she regards Hannah’s attempts to play a similar role in her life with a mixture of suspicion and reluctance. The two characters have much in common, as they both may not understand how to be close with others. Bailey grows as a character when she accepts that she can trust Hannah and that she should work with Hannah and not against her.
Owen’s lies upend the very foundation of Bailey’s life, and she struggles to cope with what they reveal. Hannah notes how surly Bailey is throughout the trip and realizes that since Owen is not present to take the brunt of his daughter’s anger, others receive it instead. Bailey’s intelligence, perceptiveness, and knowledge of Owen help drive the investigation forward, but her anger sometimes threatens to derail Hannah’s best efforts to coax information out of innocent bystanders. Bailey’s attitude starts to change when Hannah validates her emotions while also letting her participate in their decisions in a substantive way. This change empowers Bailey, and she becomes less antagonistic. At the end of the trip to Austin, Bailey chooses to return home to Sausalito with Hannah rather than disappearing into witness protection. The glimpses readers see of her in the final chapter suggest a confident, happy adult still finding her way in the world but secure in her loving relationship with her stepmother, whom she calls “Mom.”
