the secrecy about the secrecy (pp. 640–641)

The father's withdrawal is recursive: not just a hidden notebook but a hidden hiding, concealment folded over itself so that the family can't even point to the concealment to name what is wrong. It is the same structure as every sealed self in the book — the addict's No-One-Must-Know, Joelle's hiding-your-hiding — the interior walled off in layers, each layer denying there is a wall.