• Cora Sullivan's childhood wasn't perfect. Whose is, really? Her mother worked long, hard nights as an emergency room nurse and try as she might, she couldn't be counted on to be around for Parent Teacher Conferences or for dance recitals. She wasn't there when Cora first rode a bike without training wheels, or when she fell off that same bike and earned a scar on her brow. Linda Sullivan missed slumber parties and temper tantrums alike. Cora's father, Richard, often called in back-up in the form of his own mother to help watch his children: Cora, her twin brother Evan, and their older sister, Audrey. In many ways he was, in effect, a single father.

• Early on in her life Cora discovered the joy of watching old episodes of The French Chef, starring Julia Child, with her grandmother and twin brother. They would often attempt to recreate the meals that Julia had prepared with middling success, but being in the kitchen with Nana and Ev was the highlight of Cora's day. While Audrey would get bored and flip through her magazines, Cora practiced the tournée cut on that night's potatoes until they were out.

• As Audrey entered adolesence, she began to experience severe moodswings. It was more than the typical blossoming of puberty and the menstral cycle: she would lie on her bed for hours and stare at the ceiling in a near catatonic state no matter how Cora or Evan tried to rouse her... and then a few days later she would go shopping with her friends and come home having spent her entire paycheck from her job at one store or another. It was during one especially bad depressive episode that Cora walked in on her sister cutting, and the ensuing scream ensured that Richard found out. Audrey cursed her little sister for ratting her out and promised never to forgive her.

• It wasn't true, of course. Audrey forgave Cora, eventually, and the Sullivan kids continued to grow into beautiful young women and a handsome young man. Where Audrey joined the high school dance team and did everything in her power to hide her mental illness from her friends, Katie settled into the role of the bookish child. She fostered her love for cooking with her brother on the weekends and consumed every opportunity to be the little chef at home-- something that Richard deftly appreciated after a long work day; but Cora also dressed up as a witch for Harry Potter book releases, learned to play the trumpet and joined jazz band. Cora didn't enjoy the popularity that her older sister always had, but an aesthetically pleasing face and a charming personality meant that girls in Cora's grade were at the very least always kind to her. It helped that her twin brother was pretty cute.

• When the twins were in middle school, the Sullivan family made the decision to move across the country from Seattle to New York-- more specifically, the Hudson River Valley. There were a lot of tears and frustration on the side of the children, Audrey especially, but there was nothing to be done that would change Richard and Linda's minds. Due to aging grandparents on that side of the country, coupled with a job offer that Richard couldn't refuse, there was no turning back. The Sullivans settled into Irvington, NY fairly quickly, all things considered. Audrey settled into her new school by dating one Elliot Edenfield-- the neighbor boy that Cora, too, had noticed and found particularly attractive. Given the situation with her big sister, however, there was little and less to be done. She kept her mouth shut and focused on the friends that she and Evan had made.

• Once Audrey graduated from high school and moved out for college and subsequently nursing school, she and Cora grew close in a way that they never had been while living under the same roof. They spilled secrets about first kisses what the bases meant, and things that though Cora told Evan, he didn't quite get like another girl would. At sixteen Cora had a thousand questions about the night of her prom that Evan couldn't really answer, and with a secret smile Audrey answered them all-- and then followed up with a stern reminder to be safe. Cora naively wondered if her older sister's demons were conquered and vanished from her life for good.

• Eighteen came before she knew it, and it was Cora and Evan's turn to leave the nest. Despite their mother's urging to go get a "real degree" from a "real college," Cora and Evan followed their hearts and made their way to the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in New York. Cora, for her part, did her best to break out of her shy habits and meet new people, and not rely so much on the bond with her twin to keep her social life alive. Culinary school suited Cora. She had grown up loving French cooking, but as she was exposed to more and more types of cuisine she settled into a deep affair with food from the far east. It wasn't always easy; on the whole, the culinary world was still heavily dominated by men, and more often than she would care to admit Cora's choices were questioned. "Are you sure? Wouldn't you prefer something more... feminine?" "Did you apply because your brother did?" "That's not what I would do..." Cora knew she would have to work hard to get the recognition she deserved, but it was a challenge she was willing to take on. Not to mention she had the full support of her siblings behind her.

• Shortly after graduating from the CIA, Cora floated from job to job as a line cook right at home-- Applebees, greasy spoon diners, you name it. She found a cute little studio apartment and began to plan her sister's wedding in between frantic dinner shifts-- her sister's fiancé hadn't popped the question yet, but she knew he was bound to eventually. The Sullivans had accepted him as one of their own, and Cora never saw her sister happier than when she was at Ben's side. And she could tell, too, that he was utterly devoted to his girl. That was why what happened next was such a shock.

• The day before Valentine's Day, 2013, Cora received the worst phonecall of her life. Her older sister had been found at home, where she'd overdosed on prescription pills. Despite any and all attempts to revive her... she was gone. Her sister's suicide shattered Cora's world, leaving behind questions she would never be able to answer. Could she have done more? How could she miss it? How could Audrey do it? It felt to Cora that she went through the cycle of grief a million times, bouncing back and forth from anger and depression to bargaining and back. Her father took on more shifts at work and pushed back his plans for retirement. Her mother created a shrine to Audrey in her old bedroom, leaving up every poster, every tousled blanket, every book with earmarked pages. And Cora? Cora followed in her father's footsteps and dove into work.

• Despite every broken sob and angry curse at God, life did continue for the Sullivan family. Cora, working at Lou's Bar & Grill, continues to work in the kitchen, finding every day at the restaurant a new and exciting challenge in the unfolding of her career. She does what she can to live life as full as possible, trying to honor her sister's memory while trying to reach out to those like her, hoping to stop another family's tragedy from echoing her own.