NOTE TO READER

AFTER I EMAILED Dad, I went up into the attic, sat on the old couch, and stared at the shelf of puzzles. I pulled the Skylab piece and the folded list of all 105 puzzles out of my pocket. I pretty much always had them with me. The piece and the list felt like a link to my father.

But what was I doing? Why was I still sending him emails if he wasn’t going to answer? Maybe it was pointless. Maybe I should give up.

I twirled the puzzle piece between my fingers, looking at the black background with the white dots. What could it be? Which puzzle did it belong to? I had been so excited when we figured out the Star Wars puzzle. I wanted to have that feeling again.

Skylab.

Star Wars.

Stars . . .

And that’s when I realized what it was.