After a few moments, I stand back and look in the mirror. The long smooth expanse of skin between the top and bottom makes me look taller, slinkier. Great!

So why do my feet not move me back to the kitchen? They stay glued to the hardwood floor. Is there too much skin showing?

“Are you coming, Naomi?” Mom calls. “Your dad has to leave.”

I find my flip-flops and slip them on. Then, slap, slap, slap, back I head. Behind me, click, click, click, Diesel follows.

“Oh my.” Mom covers her mouth with her hand.

Dad, with his second box of books in his arms, stumbles back and gasps. “A bikini!” He drops the box. “Red?”

“Two-pieces are the only kind that fit me, Dad.”

“It’s beautiful.” Mom’s on my side!

“I don’t care! It doesn’t cover you enough. You’ll get skin cancer.”

Diesel barks along with Dad’s yelling. Angry Alpha Male! Danger! “Rawf! Rawf!”

Mom speaks softly. “I was wearing a red bathing suit just like that when we first met. Remember?” She smiles, just with her lips. Still, she looks happy for a moment, like she’s enjoying that memory.

“That’s exactly it! I don’t want guys looking at her. I want better for Naomi.” He flings his arms wide open. “She should go to university till she has every degree and diploma there is. She should become a doctor … of everything.” His hands drop, his shoulders with them. “She shouldn’t end up with a loser like me.”

“Rawf!”

The ranting and barking stop, and there is a moment of silence when the world stops turning. Mom looks at Dad. First her mouth puckers, then her lips part. She is going to say something.

I think of all the great things she could say: You’re anything but a loser, James. That was the happiest day of my life. How about Things didn’t work out so bad. Look at the lovely daughter we have. If she says any of these things, the packed suitcase she flung onto the porch might be emptied back into the closet upstairs again. Our family can be put back together.

But before any words can leave her lips, Dad picks up the second box of books and walks out the door.

Alpha in exile again! “Rawf! Rawf!”

The world pauses midspin for another moment.

“Mom, it was the only bathing suit in my size. Honest.”

“You’re young. You can wear a bikini,” she answers. “Your dad just has to get over himself.”

Still, I feel bad. Does this mean their Tuesday movie night is off ’cause they disagree? All I want — besides me, Diesel, and Baby Luanne staying alive — is for Mom and Dad to get back together.

“You know I was planning to go into nursing when I met your father,” Mom says.

“Why didn’t you anyway? Dad didn’t make you stop.”

“No.” Mom smiles. “We had you, instead. Best thing that ever happened to me. But I was planning to go back to school, now that you’re so grown-up. Then your father lost his job.”