The slideshow is kind of hard to see on my phone—the bottom’s cropped off. This is a laptop job. I get up to leave, and neither Mom nor Rosie seems to notice me moving.

“I’m great. Maya’s great. You’ve gotta trust us to make our own choices.”

I’m too far away to hear Mom’s reply. In my bedroom, I set up at my desk, and pull the slideshow up.

The presentation starts on a title page covered in flowers, animated sparkles, and the words Second-Chance Romance: The Ex’s Handbook.

I click.

Congratulations! You have been invited to appear on the PN channel’s most exciting new show: SECOND-CHANCE ROMANCE. If you have received this invitation, one of your exes has been chosen as this season’s Explorer. And he’s hoping to re-explore every inch of you!

What in the unholy fuck is this?

Seconds later, Rosie bursts through my door without knocking and throws herself headfirst onto my bed to scream into my pillow. I watch her patiently until she tires herself out and peeks up at me with one eye. “I’m never visiting home again,” she declares. “It’s too dangerous for everyone involved. I am going to strangle her one day, and then we’ll see what my employment prospects are like.” She rolls over and notices my laptop. “What’s that?”

I join her on the bed, and she scans the screen with a disbelieving look. I click onto the next slide.

So, what is this show all about? the title asks.

Glad you asked! It answers itself on the next slide.

Oh, that’s helpful.

SECOND-CHANCE ROMANCE follows a chosen Explorer, who re-dates a select group of their exes, in order to re-explore their connection and discover which of them might be the one that got away. At SECOND-CHANCE ROMANCE, we believe that everyone falls in love for a reason. Statistics show that the things that cause couples to break up—disagreements, incompatibilities, location changes—usually resolve themselves with space and time, as we grow and change as individuals. But those wonderful parts of us that made someone fall for us to begin with? Those never change!

“Citation needed,” I say, and Rosie snorts.

Sounds incredible! Who is this season’s Explorer?

The next slide is a portrait of Jordy. A recent one, I’m pretty sure, because his once-longish, wavy brown hair is short and neat, and the minor chip in his bottom tooth is gone. He’s smiling at the camera all crinkly eyed, like someone who’s just told the world’s most hilarious joke.

He looks like a fairy-tale prince.

Now there’s a joke.