Love Is Like Dead Ashes

Jessica Quinn has just lost her mother, Matilda Quinn, and stands alone at the crematorium when her father, Frank Quinn, arrives late and distracted. His phone rings with a young woman's voice asking whether "that bitch" is toasted yet; Frank tells Jessica that Stephanie is moving in and leaves before his wife's ashes are even collected. Jessica pays the storage fee herself and carries her mother's white urn home.

Frank has already burned Matilda's belongings and wants the urn gone. Stephanie Wilson, lounging on the couch with a hand on her belly, orders it into the bathroom; Frank threatens to dump the ashes down the drain if Jessica refuses. He turns Jessica's room into a game room, and her suitcase with the last portraits of her mother disappears.

Jessica is twenty-seven and dying of advanced lung cancer, refusing treatment. With her mother gone and her father fawning over Stephanie and her unborn child, she has little strength left to fight for what remains of Matilda.