Fina grins. “And I’m dying to meet her. I’ll tell my mom we have to work on a project after school next week. We’ll go then, okay?”

“Fine,” I grumble. “But if you weren’t my best friend . . .”

“Oh, but I am, Emma,” Fina says, grin widening. “Oh, but I am.”

After Fina leaves, I find Dad in the backyard trying to get the lawn mower to start.

“Hey, Dad,” I say, sitting down on a mossy bench between two rosebushes.

“Hey, Butterfly,” he says, looking up in surprise.

“I was wondering, do you know much about Gram’s childhood?”

He wipes his hands together and tilts his head in thought. “Not much, actually. Obviously she grew up here. But she didn’t like to talk about growing up a lot, I think because she had a tough relationship with her parents—your great-grandparents.”

“Tough like how?” I ask.

He rubs a hand over his stubbly jaw. “I’m not sure. I just always got the sense they didn’t get along. They died when I was little, but I think they were very stern people. Not a barrel of laughs like your mom and me.” He winks, and I roll my eyes. “Anyway, I guess her father had to have been a serious person, to be the mayor and all. He even tried to run for governor at one point. I think he might have been more interested in being a good politician than a good father, actually.”

“Do you know if Gram was ever sick as a child?” I study my own father’s face closely for any sign that he might be hiding something. But he just thinks for another moment, then sits down beside me on the bench and shakes his head.

“Not that I know of. Are you wondering about her cancer? Because I don’t think anyone could have seen that coming. That’s just the way life is sometimes, you know?”

“Yeah, I know,” I say. At least, I’m learning.

He sighs and pulls me closer so he can kiss me on the head. “This happens when people die,” he says. “You start thinking of all this stuff you wish you had asked them. You kick yourself for not taking the time to do it when you had the chance.”

I hadn’t thought of it that way. Would Gram have told me the truth if only I had asked?

“There’s so much I didn’t know,” I say quietly.

“You knew Gram’s heart, Emma,” Dad says.

A few weeks ago, I would have agreed with him. But now I’m not so sure.

After Mom leaves for Pilates, I decide to take Boomer for a long walk. I need some space to think about everything I heard today.

Lily is still on the couch, which is weird, since she and Mom usually go to Pilates together.