On page six, the Little Prince insisted the author draw him a sheep. Nova sat up and reached for the book. Bridget always skipped this part because Nova did not care for sheep, all woolly and white, like the blanket Mama used to throw over the kitchen table to keep them safe. She flipped ahead to page nine and gave the book back to Francine.

The Little Prince was very long, as far as bedtime stories go, so they did not make it to Nova’s second-favorite part, when the Little Prince meets the Fox. The Fox tells the Little Prince a big secret, the secret Bridget used to whisper to Nova before they’d go to bed at night—“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”

“That means we understand each other because our hearts are connected,” Bridget would whisper. “Others can’t understand us because they know only what they see.”

Nova shut her eyes, head back against the soft pillow, and imagined her sister lying there beside her in the bed. She pictured a tiny wooden bridge spanning the length between them, from Bridget’s heart to hers, looking just like the one on the Bridge to Terabithia cover hanging in the middle school hallway, the one made by a sixth-grade student.

A bridge. Bringing them back together at last.

Francine closed the book and kissed her forehead. Billy said good night.

Eventually, Nova fell into a dreamless sleep.