I hurry to follow her out of the house. “Shouldn’t we tell your mom we’re leaving?”

“She’ll be asleep all day. Don’t you want to know more about this Yakov? If we can find out more about him, maybe we’ll find out more about your gram. You want to know if she’s a spy or not, right?”

“It’s ten miles away,” I say, ignoring the spy remark. I’m not convinced Gram used to be a spy, but Olivia’s right. I do want to find out.

“That’s what the bus is for. Duh, Lulu.”

Once we’re on the bus, I text Gram and Mom to tell them I’m with Olivia. Mom instantly responds with a kissy face and a string of hearts, but I don’t hear back from Gram until we’re almost to Yakov’s office.

Gram: Give Olivia a kiss from me. I’m at home with Clay.

Me: And mom is there?

Gram: Yes, Lulu. Love u

I study Gram’s text, wishing I could tell if she was okay. I hope she doesn’t get too forgetful without me there to cover for her. I turn my phone over, determined to stop worrying about Gram spacing out in front of Mom. All I can do is try to find out what Yakov knows and hope it helps.

“Do you think you can get your gram to tell you more stories?” Olivia asks. “All of them so far seem to be about her friend Jacob. Maybe you can ask where he is.”

“I think it makes her sad to talk about him.” I still can’t stop thinking about the story of Jacob’s father. How can a dad treat his family that way?

Olivia nods briskly. “Good. The sadder she is, the better. My mom always talks more when she’s sad. We’ll dig into Yakov and then see what else you can find out from your gram. I bet we solve this by the weekend.”

And what does that mean? Finding out if Gram is a spy might still not help bring back her memory. I’m not sure I even want to know if it will change how I see her.

I swallow hard. “Are you sure you’re up to this?”

Olivia’s eyes narrow as she looks from the window to me. “Stop babying me. I’m fine. You’re the one who needs help right now, not me. Got it?”

I nod, because I do know. I know Olivia needs to make new memories to replace the bad. Distraction is perfect for that.

My phone buzzes. “It’s Max.”

She rubs a hand across her face and grimaces. “Tell him I said sorry he had to see that last night. Talk about awkward.”

Max: Hey

Me: Hey, I’m with Olivia. We’re going to go find the doctor my gram went to yesterday. He might be Russian.