Finn felt a pang of sadness. She loved her foster parents and wanted to make them proud, but implicit in their pride was the absence of her real mom. Nora was the one who should have been throwing her a graduation party. It probably wouldn’t have had a caterer or a hayride or more than twelve people in attendance, but it wouldn’t have mattered. They would have ordered pizza with extra cheese and hogged the karaoke machine until their guests got bored and left. That’s what they did for all of her birthdays growing up, and she would expect no less—or more—to celebrate her graduation.

For the last few weeks leading up to the party, Finn had fantasized that her mom would show up unannounced. Before she’d disappeared, they’d often talked about the things they would do once Finn turned eighteen: the trips they would take, the exotic food they would eat, the men they would trick into thinking they were wealthy socialites. It would be fitting that Nora would reemerge only weeks before her eighteenth birthday and whisk her away on some grand adventure.

In these fantasies, Finn imagined her mom showing up to her party wearing a hilarious disguise. Although she had a hard time picturing what Nora looked like under the neon wig and rhinestone sunglasses. Finn worried that her memory of her mother was beginning to fade. Did she take her coffee with milk or sugar, or milk and sugar? Was her hair naturally auburn or did she dye it that way? Was she tall or did she just wear heels a lot? What did her laugh sound like? What about her voice? Would she even recognize her mom if she called her right now? Probably not, she thought. Finn was scared that what memories of her mom she had left, she’d made up to make herself feel better. Sad kids have some of the best imaginations.

“Thanks for the help, Finny.” Kathy sidled up to her and squeezed her around the shoulders. Milly’s tail thumped on the grass.

“No problem. Just don’t use my comforter. I don’t want hay in my bed.”

“I would never. I’ll use Steve’s sleeping bags.”

“That’ll be a fun surprise for him the next time he goes camping.”

“He probably won’t even notice. You know, I once found a pinecone in there. Flat as a flapjack, like he’d slept on it all night. Can you believe that? A pinecone.”

“Nope.” Although Finn had seen Steve sleeping on a pizza box once, so maybe she could.

Kathy gasped and touched the brim of Finn’s sun hat as if she had just noticed its presence (even though she had ducked under it to give Finn a hug). “Love the hat, by the way. Very Coco Chanel. Did you get it for the party?”