Too late, Abby. She’s been at your school, like, forever. Probably knows all the stuff they’re saying anyway.

She heard the apartment door open, heard her dad’s voice.

“Come on, guys. It’s beautiful out there! Let’s go!” He started peeing with the bathroom door open. It sounded like he’d just had another of his weird mood changes.

Abby didn’t want to go out. She wanted to watch this message box. She wanted to watch it all day if necessary. Suddenly:

“abby woo hoo thought u didn’t wanna b buddeees” A healthy dose of happy emojis rounded it off.

Abby leapt forward and was about to start typing when another message appeared.

“my dad doesn’t allow me on fb often. same w u right?”

“yep same.”

“ok we better b quick then right ha so u wanna hear some news?”

“sure.”

“we got a puppy”

“omg what type + name?”

“not named yet. he is super cute. but that’s not the only news. something bigger 4 u”

“?”

“not going 2 mcdade.”

“no way.”

“yes way.”

“why not?”

“dad doesn’t wanna stay in detroit. new job. says he can work anywhere now + guess what”

Abby heard the bathroom flush. Something told her her session was about to be ended. Thankfully Kelsey seemed to be facing the same urgency wherever she was. She sent another message before Abby had had the chance to reply.

“top secret rite?”

Abby felt her heart pounding for some reason as she typed back. “understood pcb!”

“pcb?”

“parent coming back!”

There was a face palm emoji then: “so dad says my bro + me choose where we want 2 live”

“no way!”

“yes way!”

“where u gona choose?”

“need a buddy?” A winking face and puppy emoji followed.

Abby thought about her one friend here in Toledo, thought about how often her dad said it was safer here than Detroit. Much safer. Surely she could . . .

“abby i gotta go”

. . . share her secret with just one person . . .

“not sure when ill get online again”

. . . one person she’d known about before they moved. So, strictly speaking, Kelsey wasn’t someone trying to be her friend since they left Detroit.

“let u kno where we end up.” Sad emoji.

Abby reached for the keyboard just as her dad entered the living room. She’d better be fast.

The hand of Mr. Indecisive was poised above the dotted line. He looked around at Spencer.

“I think this will be the most I’ve ever spent on a car,” he said.

Spencer nodded. “Well, I’d say that’s a reason to be cheerful.”

“Cheerful?”

“Why sure. You’re focusing on the wrong thing here.”

“I am?”

“You should be happy that you’re successful enough to afford that car, not whether or not you’re doing something bad here. It’ll serve you faithfully every time you get in it.”

“I never thought of it like that.”