I realize with a start she means Naomi. I didn’t know she had a nickname for her, and I didn’t know the girls were calling me a nickname that was basically the same as my mom’s. May May and Nay Nay. My heart starts to skip, my emotions building up, but before I can think of any sort of response, she moves toward the door.

“I’m going to pack up the girls for Salem Willows. See you downstairs?” Then she disappears down the hallway, leaving me with a giant ball of emotions.

Salem Willows turns out to be a small recreation area on the tip of the peninsula that hosts an arcade and a few walk-up restaurants. In the center is a large grassy park full of large white willow trees, and along the water are old houses and a small rocky beach. Scads of kids are jumping through waves, their legs bluish with cold.

I spend the drive getting back to level ground after my interactions with Emma and the girls. The ride is chaotic with the girls fighting over who gets to sit by me, and Simon desperately trying to drag Nova out of the angry cocoon she’s built around herself. Simon made her leave her phone at home, which was clearly a travesty.

Eventually we arrive, and everyone piles out and is handed things to carry. I’m assigned the beach umbrella and a nylon net full of beach toys, and the girls are given towels, life jackets, and snacks and we go set up on the beach. We order sugar corn—flavored sweet popcorn—from E.W. Hobbs, then all sit around eating handfuls of it while the girls run screaming into and out of the water.

The willow trees of course make me think of Willow, and as I watch them swaying in the breeze, the last of my uneasiness fades away. Yes, the girls are shrieking, and I’m awkwardly perched on a towel next to Emma and Nova, but right at this moment I’m feeling like anything is possible.

Those signs have to mean I’ll see her again, don’t they?

Simon walks away and reappears a few minutes later holding an enormous bag of cinnamon popcorn. “Isn’t this place great? It was originally a smallpox hospital. They built the park for the patients. Nova, you want to go to the arcade?”

“Not really,” she says.

“Aw, come on, Nov. It will be fun.” I think she’s going to refuse again, but she lets out a little half growl and grudgingly stands up, then the two of them head for the arcade, Nova hanging back a few feet.

Emma passes me the bag of popcorn, her eyes on the girls. “Simon said you might want to go on a Salem tour with his client’s daughter? Is that right?”