Maggie is close to the end of Water Street, near the post office, the bookstore, and the statue of Rebecca that stands at the intersection of the four Old Harbor roads. Like all the island kids, Maggie knows that Rebecca was erected in the late 1800s by a women’s Christian temperance group to remind people to limit their alcohol consumption. Like all the island kids, Maggie also knows that it’s really hard for Rebecca to do her job in the summertime. Whenever the Patriots win a Super Bowl (which is often) Rebecca wears a Pats jersey.

On her wrist (Maggie’s, not Rebecca’s) is a neon-green cast applied at the Block Island Medical Center by Olivia Rossi’s mother. It makes it difficult for Maggie to ride her bike. But not impossible. And it’s waterproof, at least.

Maggie checks her cell phone. She has three texts. One is from Riley, the first in several days. When she’d gotten her phone back, she’d given Maggie a good dose of the electronic silent treatment, but this text, even though it just says Hey, is a sign that the friendship is on the mend. There is another text from Olivia Rossi, confirming that Maggie will pick up one of Olivia’s shifts next week, and a third from her father, asking if they can switch her planned weekend visit to the weekend after.

Hey, she texts back to Riley. To Olivia she texts the thumbs-up emoji, and to her father she texts NP. In the summer she doesn’t like to leave the island any more than she has to, so the change in plans is fine with her, but she wonders what’s behind it. Most likely her stepmother, Sandy.

On Maggie’s last visit she overheard her father and Sandy talking about a potential move to Laguna Beach, California, where Sandy is from. Sandy has hated New England from the moment she married Maggie’s father and isn’t afraid to talk about it. Maggie hasn’t told her mother about the move—she isn’t sure if this is a legit plan or just one of those things that Sandy says when she gets mad. (Sandy has a temper, and gets mad a lot; Maggie’s father, whose temperament Maggie’s mother has always labeled artistic, adding theatrical air quotes, seems relaxed and even-keeled by comparison.)

If her father moves to California, Maggie will miss him, some, and she’ll miss her little sister, Tiki, a lot. Tiki is unbearably cute, even more so now that she has learned how to say Maggie’s name. When she says it, and puts her chubby little arms up to Maggie, Maggie feels a definite melting sensation. It’s lucky Maggie’s name doesn’t contain the letter s because Tiki has a lisp and she says s like th. Sandy has already contacted a speech therapist, who told her that Tiki is too young to begin receiving services.

Maggie won’t miss Sandy (Thandy) if her father moves to California. Sandy often looks at Maggie the way someone looks at an exotic but possibly dangerous zoo animal—you know it can’t hurt you, because it’s behind glass, but you’re going to keep a close eye on it anyway. Sandy doesn’t like it when Maggie cooks in her kitchen. She won’t let her use the sharp knives (Maggie is thirteen! And knows how to fillet a fish!) and she won’t let Tiki try anything spicy because she thinks it might offend her young palate. Tiki eats mostly carrot sticks and chicken nuggets shaped like dinosaurs. Dinner by Mom, Sandy is not.