My arms broke out in goose bumps as I watched Luca open the door and step out in full uniform. As soon as he saw my face, he strode over, holding his hands up and saying, “Whoa, whoa—everything’s okay, Freddo!”

“Anika’s all right?” I asked, then gulped, “Sam? Sam got home okay?” I’d asked Jed to walk him home, same as I did every Wednesday, but suddenly I panicked, imagining that something had happened between school and our house.

Luca’s face changed, but just a little—enough that only I would notice. His brown eyes grew sad, and then smiled to fold it away again. “No, no—nothing like that!”

“What are you doing here?” I asked, maybe a little meanly. But he’d scared me by showing up suddenly and making my mind jump to bad news!

Luca reached forward and lifted my backpack from my shoulders, slung it easily over one arm, and motioned for me to walk toward his squad car.

“I had something I needed to do in Rosebud, at the hospital. The meeting wrapped up early, so I thought I’d swing by and pick you up from Pop’s, give you a lift home.”

When we got to his car he turned and looked down at me. “Plus I thought you and I should probably have a little chat. . . .”

“How’s Jeff?” Luca asked as we pulled out of the RRC parking lot.

“Okay.”

“And how was school?”

“Fine.”

“Learn anything interesting today?”

Mr. Khouri had taught us this theory that 250 million years ago the Earth looked very different and had only one continent—a supercontinent called Pangaea, and one ocean named Panthalassa. And—the theory goes—that huge continent eventually broke apart, creating all the landmasses and oceans we have now. Even today the continents look like they could fit together like puzzle pieces. Mr. Khouri showed us how the east coast of South America and the west coast of Africa follow the same curve from millions of years ago.

But I didn’t tell Luca any of that. Instead I said, “Not really.”

He let out a long sigh while I kept staring out the window at the bay.

“We haven’t been getting along so well lately, have we, Freddo?” he asked.

When I didn’t say anything, Luca kept talking. “What I mean is, I know a lot’s been changing. Ever since your pop left, then with me and Anika, and her and Sam moving in.” He gave another deep sigh. “And the baby coming.”

I got this tingling feeling—like a sneeze was coming and about to make my eyes water—so I kept watching out the window.

“I’ve been thinking a lot about Maria too,” Luca said, and I nearly stopped breathing. “Thinking about how much I miss her and how much I love her.”

I looked over at him then, watched him watching the road.