“We’re meeting three investors for lunch this afternoon. Have to give them the goods.” Knowing that statement was as dignified an exit as any, he let it simmer, then kissed our foreheads and said his goodbyes. “Enjoy your day indoors. Maybe you can get to cleaning up the mess you made in my garage. We should’ve given those bikes to Goodwill a long time ago.”

Ha.

Once Dad left, Aidy started tapping her fingers on the table to fill the silence. She liked to test my mood by testing my patience. She used small motions, thinking herself unobvious.

“I’m all good,” I said to her.

“Dad told me he’s having Mr. Jimenez watch the house.”

“To make sure we don’t leave?”

“Yeah,” she said as she phased out her finger tapping. She sighed into her last bite of pancake, covering the bottom of her face with a hand and grabbing for her napkin after each bite, chewing like her presence offended the world.

“Perfect,” I muttered. Another obstacle to face.

An expectant quiet simmered. With Aidy and me, fights somehow made us closer. The extra layer of friction between us played out like a game we both won. The person who first made it better got the pride of being the bigger person. The other person got the satisfaction of surrender.

Through shielded mouth, Aidy surprised me by saying, “We’ll use the back door.” She was trying to be the one to make it better between us.

“You still want to do the Adventure?” I asked, needing the satisfaction of her surrender.

With a careful dab at her lips, she cleaned off her last bite of food and stood to put her plate in the dishwasher. “We have to make sure we don’t go onto Albany. At least not until the first intersection. Mr. Jimenez won’t notice. It’s not like he ever leaves his house.”

“So we’re going the Marley way.” I was careful not to sound too interested. I thought Aidy would be done with all of it. I certainly didn’t think she’d want me to come with her. Then again, I’d proven to know more than her. She needed me.

If they wanted to finish, they all needed me.

“Mm-hmm,” she answered in a measured tone.

Bursting, I shoveled down the last of my pancakes and dialed Ruby on the house phone. She’d meet us at Cadence Park in a half hour.

Aidy and I went into our rooms to change. We both emerged in jean shorts caked with mud that could never be washed out. Shirts that smelled like they’d been folded away for years.

I felt renewed. I could get the Adventure back. Prove to Aidy it was all for something different.