“Yeah, I’m sorry. I would have. But I actually came to talk to your daughter,” she said, nodding toward me. “Abby, right?”

Mom and Dad turned to me, surprised.

“My boss—Dr. Lacamoire? I know you’ve met, but not sure if you knew—he’s pretty well known in his field. He’s considered an expert in our solar system. He teaches at MIT.”

MIT! The Massachusetts Institute of Technology was my dream of dreams. I couldn’t imagine spending my entire day learning about the stars. It was pretty far away, but like I said earlier—the heart hopes. You can’t stop it.

Whenever I felt a jolt of hope, though, I tried to stamp it back down. I’d seen what hope did to people. I’d seen Blair and the Joffrey collide. I’d seen beautiful things turn so ugly. Hope was Paris Forrester, a girl from elementary school who would smile sweetly so all the teachers liked her before making fun of them behind their backs. Hope looked like the hero of the story but it was usually the villain.

“Well, he’d heard that Abby had an interest in astronomy,” said Simone. “Said he ran into you at the library? He was wondering if she’d like to join us for dinner tomorrow night. Whole family is invited, of course. Not to brag, but I can cook a mean lasagna. Do you like Italian? We’d love to have you.”

I remembered all those telescopes in his lookout.

“Yes!” I said instantly. “Can we?”

“That’s very kind of Dr. Lacamoire,” said Mom. “We would be honored.”

“I also wanted to thank you for dealing with the raccoon issue so quickly. I know I came off a bit intense. Working for a scientist is something else,” she said, shaking her head. “I didn’t mean to make more work for you.”

“No worries at all. Nobody wants an animal sneaking through their door at night. But dinner would be great,” Dad said. “I actually have an interest in astronomy myself. Taught Abby everything she knows,” he said, tugging on my ponytail.

“Great. Seven o’clock okay for you?” asked Simone. I nodded.

“I’ll see you all tomorrow, then,” she said. “I should get back.”

As Simone ran out into the rain, Mom turned and stared at me. “Wow! That’s pretty exciting, Abby. How generous of him.”

I nodded again, and tried to calm the storm of thoughts running through my head. I tried to tie down that anticipation, that hope that was trying to fly like a bird. That wish for Dr. Leo Lacamoire and that lookout of telescopes to be my Summer Adventure, no matter how quirky he seemed. I didn’t know when, and I didn’t know how, but I wanted to be back in that lookout with those telescopes. Goodbye, Katherine Johnson; hello, Sally Ride. I wanted to observe the galaxy and see something beautiful—something other than pine trees and sisters who were sick.

But I clipped hope’s wings. People say hope like it’s a good thing, but they’re kidding themselves. Hope is the monster that hides under your bed. It’s the flame that burns down the house while you’re sleeping.