But Jules had noticed, too, and we started listening at my parents’ bedroom door. We couldn’t understand most of the words, but we did understand the heated tone, the whispers, our mother crying, our father upset.

“I don’t understand what they’re mad about,” Jules said.

“Me either,” I said. “But I think Dad is crying.”

“Yep. He is.” So she started crying, too. And I did. What could be so bad that our dad would cry? He never cried. He was in the military!

But one day, after school, in November, our parents said to us, “Jules and Evie, we’re going to move.”

“What?” we both said, shocked and angry, at the same time.

“We’re moving,” my father said.

“Why? Where?” we said.

“We’re moving to San Orcanita Island,” my mother said.

“But I don’t want to move,” I said. “I like my friends. Bjourna just got two puppies!”

“And I like the house,” Jules said. “I like hearing the army jets and playing Army Lady!”

“I’m sorry, girls,” my mother said. “I know you’ll miss the house and your friends, but we’re going to move.”

We cried, we fussed, and then our parents started talking about the island, which we had visited at least once a year for family vacations. Aunt Iris and Aunt Camille and their husband /current boyfriend would come to visit, too. All of us together.

We loved the island. We loved running through Grandma Lucy’s intricate garden rooms, into the meadow, around our pond, and down to the beach where we could see the other islands and, sometimes, whales. We spied on coyotes and deer and raccoons, and we made dandelion crowns. We had even met some of the local kids during our vacations, and they’d come over to play.

Jules and I thought about it.

“I’ll go if you get me a dog,” Jules said. “A fluffy dog. A big one. Big, big dog.”

“I’ll go if you promise me I can have three cats,” I said. “Not one. Not two. Three kitties.”

Well, that did it. Our parents nodded. Bring on the pets, shut down the whining about the move.

We moved to the island within the week. Things at home were still tense between my parents, but the move seemed to lighten things some. I still saw them hiding newspapers. They would also turn off the TV quickly if Jules or I walked into the living room and the news was on, but we saw them holding hands again, which made Jules and I feel better.