I locked my bedroom door and spun around in my purple chair until I felt sick. It took Jesse forever to get home.

We sat in the living room. I wondered if I would get another spiral notebook. Dad put the popcorn on the table next to the couch and I ignored it.

And then Dad and Jesse said the single best thing anyone could ever say to anyone: I was getting a sister.

Jesse’s daughter, Sonia, who lives in California, was coming to stay with us, for a week.

“I want Sonia to start spending some time with us in New York,” Jesse said. “In the summertime, and on school vacations. I want you two to get to know each other. After the wedding, you’ll be sisters.”

Jesse had told me about Sonia. I’d seen pictures of a dark-haired girl, usually in a sundress. I knew we were both in fifth grade. I knew he went to visit her in California a few times a year. I knew he called her on the phone. But Jesse never once talked about Sonia coming to stay with us. For some reason, it never even occurred to me that this was possible. And I had never thought about how Dad and Jesse getting married meant I was going to have a sister. And now she was coming to live with us (for a week). Soon.

A sister. I was finally getting a sister. Not only that, but she was staying in my room, with me, for a whole week. And it turned out that we practically had the same birthday.

“June?” I shouted.

“Yes!” Jesse shouted. Another thing I love about Jesse: if you get excited and shout, he gets excited and shouts. “You guys are only twenty-two days apart!”

I hit the couch with my fists. “Why couldn’t we have been born on the same day? Then we’d be twins!”

Dad reached for my hand and said, “Thanks for being so terrific about this, honey.”

I was way too excited to hold Dad’s hand. I was getting a sister. She was going to share my room for seven days. What was there to be terrific about? The whole thing was terrific!

“I’m going to clean my room,” I said. “I mean, our room.”

I locked my door and dance-cleaned my room.

Dancing, I got all the dirty clothes off my floor and into my laundry basket. I made my bed. Still dancing, I rearranged my jewelry box, lining up my turquoise ring, my three bracelets, and my yellow cat pin. I looked at the orange couch, where Sonia would sleep. I got the lint roller and rolled it all over the couch. I hoped Sonia wasn’t allergic to dogs like Lizette’s brother. I shook the big square pillows so they looked puffier.