His question made a thick lump form in my throat. Aside from the night Marco had died, I hadn’t cried for him. All it took was one question from Nico, and tears pooled in my eyes. If I said a single word, the heavy droplets would overflow, so I simply nodded.

“Okay. We don’t have to talk about it. Let’s just see how high we can swing. Sometimes, when the swing is going up and up, I feel like maybe I’m a bird and I can fly. You want to try?”

I nodded again, and we kicked back to start our swings.

That was the one and only time we talked about my brother.

Every day for the rest of kindergarten, Nico played with me at recess. When the end of the year rolled around, most of the kids were thrilled about summer break, but I dreaded my last day of kindergarten. Winter break had been hard enough, and it was only three weeks—but three months away from Nico? I wasn’t sure how I’d survive. At six years old, three months sounded like an eternity.

I’d had my sixth birthday back in February. I asked my parents if Nico could come to my party, but they said parties were for family only. That didn’t make much sense to me because other kids had friends at their birthday parties, but Daddy insisted. The party was all right. I had hoped turning six would feel different than being five, but it didn’t. Marco was still gone, and my heart still hurt for him every single day.

Nico was the only thing that dulled that ache, which was why summer break sounded like the worst kind of punishment. Three months without him. Three months of walking past Marco’s closed door every time I went up to my room. Three months without the one person who could make me laugh.

The morning of the last day of school, I dragged my feet until Mama yelled that I was going to make everyone late. It was the last day no matter if I was there or not, but I still didn’t want to face it.

Just like every other day, Nico joined me on the swings. I never asked him to, and he never asked if it was okay. He just grabbed the swing next to me and started swinging. Sometimes we talked, sometimes not. Sometimes, we walked around the playground, and other times, we just sat by the big oak tree.

He made me laugh when I thought I’d never laugh again.

“You promise you’ll be back when school starts?” I asked him warily when recess was almost over.

“Not sure where else I’d go. Ma says this is the only school I’m gonna go to come hell or high water, whatever that means.” He gave me a lopsided grin that made the heavy weight on my chest feel more manageable. “How about this—we’ll have a competition. You see how many ladybugs you can find this summer, and I will too. When we get back to school next year, we can see who caught the most. Deal?”