They were in his mom’s room. She was up there reading when Gramps dropped off Lucas. Now he was sitting on the end of his mom’s bed. He still had the picture of Joe and Tommy in his hand.

“Gramps was Joe,” he said. “Now he’s Sam.” He groaned. “I really do wish I’d never started asking questions in the first place.”

“Now the genie is out of the bottle,” she said. “And I’m not exactly sure how we get it back inside.”

“If I had dropped this when Gramps asked me to,” Lucas said, “none of this would have happened.”

“Sometimes not giving up has consequences,” his mom said.

“I know,” Lucas said. It came out of him like a groan. “I feel like going to my room and doing a deep dive under the covers and just wait for this to be over.”

She patted the space next to her on the bed. Lucas went and sat there. She put her arm around him. “It doesn’t seem like it right now,” she said. “But this will all work itself out.”

“I feel like I’m about to mess up our whole season,” he said.

“You know that’s not going to happen,” she said. “Basketball is too important to both of you. Let’s just give him some room to breathe. When’s your next practice?”

“Thursday,” he said. “And you wait and see. I won’t see Gramps until then. I’ll bet you anything he doesn’t come to dinner tomorrow night, either.”

“You give yourself some room to breathe, too,” she said. “Go watch a game. Read a book. Do some writing. Let’s see what happens at practice. Maybe I’ll go with you if you’re worried about things being too awkward. We’ll all get through this together.”

Gramps wasn’t at practice Thursday night. Mrs. Moretti, who’d been away doing some alumni work for the UConn women’s basketball program, told Lucas and his teammates that Gramps had called her that afternoon and asked if she’d mind taking over for him.

Ryan poked Lucas and whispered, “Did you know this was going to happen?”

“Nope.” Lucas turned to Ryan’s mom and said, “Did Gramps say anything about not feeling well? He never misses a practice.”

“He didn’t,” Jen Moretti said. “Just said he had some personal business to take care of.”

“Did he say what kind?” Lucas said.

“I actually thought you might know,” she said, grinning, “since neither one of you seems to make a move without the other one knowing.”

“No idea,” Lucas said. “He didn’t mention anything to my mom or to me.”

Gramps hadn’t said anything to either one of them, because he hadn’t returned any calls since Tuesday night.

When Mrs. Moretti dropped him off after practice, Lucas told his mom about Gramps not being at practice.