I swallowed the words that were in my throat, and Nora smiled kindly at me—like she knew I hadn’t meant to make her sad.

“He died a long time ago—before the bombings,” she said, then looked down at the jacket and shrugged. “I did not think when we left that we might never be back. I do not know why I took this old thing. It was hanging in the . . .” She waved her hand around and I said “Closet?” and she nodded.

I wanted to ask who she left with, and was it her baby’s dad? But I didn’t think she would answer that either.

“Your baby—your bija—is due in November, right?”

She nodded.

I wondered if she knew about the deadline, and whether the government would let her stay here even if she hadn’t had her daughter yet? Or would she be sent home with a baby to somewhere like we saw on the news. All rubble and dirt and rebuilding? But before I could even think about how I’d put those thoughts into words, Nora spoke.

“I am tired now,” she said, and she reached out a hand for me to hold as I helped her to her feet.

I walked her back to her room—which at least she had all to herself, even if it was practically empty and seemed lonely.

Nora stood in her doorway and looked down at me. I thought she was going to reach out and tuck my bangs behind my ear, same as Anika would have—and I don’t know why, but I so deeply hoped she would.

“It was nice to see you, Winnie,” she said.

I startled a little at the name, forgetting that I had given it to her to use—the one my mom called me.

“I do not think we meet again, but it was nice to know you,” she said.

I frowned. I wanted to ask her what she meant, and if she even had a home to go back to—let alone someplace her baby could sleep.

But the questions must have been plastered all over my face, because before I could open my mouth, she was waving her hands at me. “Now. You go, back to your games,” she said, and dismissed me.

I wandered back toward the oval, following the sound of the crowds and still thinking of Nora and her daughter, and what would happen to the two of them in the next few months as the deadline to leave approached.

I was only a few meters away from where I’d left everyone when I looked up and felt my heart sink down to my knees.

Penny was there—still in her police uniform and with an angry Mr. McMillan. He was standing in front of Penny and Luca, waving his hands around wildly.