“A part of me does,” I say, not looking into his eyes. “I get what my dad is saying—that in the long run, our lives would be so much better if we stayed here, and that starting over in a new country is a lot harder than we think it is. But I also don’t want to live at my uncle’s anymore. And if Sophie left, well… I’d want to be where my family is. I wouldn’t want to be here all alone, you know?”

“You wouldn’t be alone,” Adam says. “You’d have me.”

I nod, still not looking at him. “It’s not like I can leave anyway,” I say. “There’s the bodega. I can’t just walk away from it.”

I turn to stare at a sailing boat cruising along the river. Again, I’m not sure if it’s the coolers, but I feel lighter all of a sudden.

Blinking in the bright sunlight, I can’t help but think about all the ways I tried to hide the truth about my family from Adam and Kimmie. I think of all the secrets I kept from them, all the shame I’ve been carrying around for years, and how much it was weighing me down. Now that there’s nothing else to hide from Adam, I can feel all that shame leaving my body through my breath, making space for something new.

I reach for Adam’s hand and squeeze it tight. I wish I could go back in time and let him see this side of me much sooner. I wish I’d been able to lean on him back when my parents were first detained, and during their hearings, and all throughout this whole mess.

“How are things with your family?” I ask after we’ve sat in silence for too long.

“Better,” he says. As far as I could tell, Adam’s parents were all smiles at the opening night of his show, but I didn’t get to talk to them much. “We haven’t really talked about my future. I think my dad is just hoping that this play will be enough for me—that it’ll help me get my fix on the whole theater thing so I can finally start focusing on what I’m supposed to be doing.”

As I listen to him talk, I pay attention to all the small things I’d never thought about much before—how his right dimple is deeper than his left, how there are lines around his mouth from smiling all the time. Mostly, though, I pay attention to the sound of his voice, which is so deep and measured. I could listen to him talk about his life all day.