“Well, you must be feeling a little better,” she mused. “Your color has returned.”

“I know what I want for my birthday,” I told her in a rush. “But I need it today. Can we go shopping?”

Her brows lifted toward the ceiling in surprise. I didn’t normally ask for something specific for presents. Family members always asked me, but I never knew what to say. I had everything I wanted or needed—until now. I wanted and needed Nova with me always, but Mom couldn’t give me that.

“Good morning!” Nova greeted happily as she bounced into the room. Earlier in the week, she’d had her tubes put in. I hadn’t been worried because Ciana and Bennie had both had them done, and nothing had happened to either of them. She’d been sleepy the day it happened, but once the medication they had given her to knock her out so they could put the tubes in had worn off, she’d been nothing but her beautiful, happy self ever since.

Her little arms hugged me before she climbed into her seat at the table. On instinct, I moved behind her, making sure she didn’t fall because the chair was too high for her, and I was always scared she might get hurt. “Zia, can I have a pancake, please?”

“Of course, sweetheart,” Zia Scarlett told her as she placed a single pancake on her plate and then a few slices of bacon. “Juice?”

“Mm,” she mumbled around a mouthful of food. “Thank you.”

“Mom, can Nova come with us?” I asked, not wanting to spend even a minute away from her.

“If her parents say she can,” Mom said with a nod.

An hour later, after I’d promised Nova’s dad that I would protect her with my life, we were in the electronics store at the mall. The sales associate held up two different iPads, and I examined them both. “Which will have a better quality of picture when we video chat?” I asked, and the man blinked at me.

“How old are you, kid?”

“I’ll be nine in two days,” I told him, annoyed he was asking me questions instead of answering mine. “Which one has the better picture quality?”

“They are equally good. These are the newest models with high-definition cameras. The only difference is the hard drive, the capacity for how much is downloaded and stored, like pictures and apps.”

I released Nova’s hand and picked up one of the boxes, seeing how heavy it was. It was surprisingly light, and I figured Nova’s arms wouldn’t get tired holding it. “I want the one with the biggest hard drive.”

The associate glanced from me to Mom, who stood off to the side, watching but not participating. “Okay, kid. What else do you need?”

I turned my attention to Nova. She shifted from one foot to the other, her beautiful face showing how bored she was. But she’d been waiting patiently while I picked out my birthday present. The present I planned on giving to her so we could talk every day over video.