“So what prompted this great change?” Dagmar asked. “I would have sworn you would never voluntarily give up your beloved flip phone.”

“I have a bet with Ellen.” She shrugged. “It’s more of a challenge.” She explained about Cooper and his belief that his mother couldn’t get along without him. She left out the fight, instead talking about how she’d come up with the idea as a way to help her friend.

“Only now I’m thinking it’s probably good for me, too. So I can get out of the rut everyone thinks I’m in.”

She did her best not to sound defensive as she spoke, but wasn’t sure how successful she was.

Dagmar only smiled. “That sounds like an excellent plan and explains the skydiving.”

They drove to the Yakima Verizon store. Once inside, she listened to an explanation about the different iPhones. Unity chose the simplest model they had, then agonized over the different cases.

“You’ll want something sturdy,” Dagmar told her. “With the work you do, you need your phone protected. But you can still get a pretty color.”

More quickly than she would have thought, her credit card was charged and the new phone was hers.

When the transaction was complete, she and Dagmar took a seat in the back of the store and waited for the phone to finish activating. Given that she was starting with no apps and no contacts, it didn’t take long.

Dagmar showed her how to work the basic functions. Unity quickly input Ellen’s number, then Thaddeus’s.

“I want to text Ellen,” she said.

“You should. Let me show you the emojis.”

Dagmar pushed a couple of buttons, then showed her the smiley face. “They’re all there. Hundreds of them. Once you start using a few, they’ll stay up front, where they’re easy to keep using. Oh, and beware of the eggplant.” She waggled her eyebrows. “That’s the symbol for a penis.”

“An eggplant? Poor vegetable. Why does it have to be a penis?”

“I don’t know, dear, but it does.”

Unity typed in a text to Ellen.

I have a new phone—one that texts. Take that, tattoo girl.

Seconds later, three dots appeared on the screen.

“That means she’s answering you,” Dagmar told her. “This is so exciting.”

Welcome to a brave new world. I’m so proud of you. How’s it going?

Great. I’m excited about the phone. How did it go with Jeremy and Coop?

He got back about an hour ago and didn’t say much. Only that he had a really good time and his dad is cool.

You worried?

Yes, but I’ll deal. Gotta go. Love you.

Love you, too.

Unity clutched the phone to her chest. “I think I love it. Is that wrong?”

“Of course not. Apple love is pure.”

They drove back to Willowbrook. When Unity was about to turn into Silver Pines, Dagmar shook her head.

“Go around the back way,” she said, patting Unity’s arm. “I want to show you something.”

“Sounds mysterious.”