NOTE TO READER

MOM AND I decided to stay with Papa for a few more days. We wanted to give Dad time to get home and move out. He found an apartment, a two-bedroom, and bought a bunch of stuff from IKEA to fill it up. It was strange how fast things were changing. Only a month before, we’d been at home, celebrating Dad’s birthday.

I spent a lot of time thinking: If I stumbled across a Time-Turner or a TARDIS, would I go back in time and change things? (Okay, so Luis and I had probably been watching too much Harry Potter and Doctor Who.)

Forget the obvious for a moment—if Mom and Dad hadn’t gotten married, I wouldn’t be here—and let’s just assume, for the sake of the argument, that I was. Which of all my memories would I be willing to give up?

Building the space station with Dad? Reading at the pool? Learning to work a puzzle? And those are just the old memories. What about going on the merry-go-round with Papa? Or learning to work a video camera with Luis? Or scheming over text messages with my mom? I don’t want to give up any of them!

And so I decided I’d just have to get used to the pieces I’ve been given, even if they don’t form the picture I had imagined they would.

Anyway, that’s what I was thinking while I walked through the aisles at the grocery store with Papa. He was planning another cookout so I could say good-bye to Luis and his family. Papa paused in the meat aisle. “Hot dogs?” he asked. “They were Nana’s favorite,” I said. And he put them in the cart.