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Mum. I wished he hadn’t seen her that day, in the doctor’s. I told him she wasn’t like that, really, which was a lie. I told him they were adjusting her medication and it was just a question of waiting. I stuck up for her because I knew I should, but I wouldn’t have believed a word of it if I was him.
    He said, “Was that your sister with you?” and I said yes, and that with the Jack fallout and my dad going part-time on us, I’d pretty much been left in charge. I told him that my friends were getting bored with me because I couldn’t hang around too much, and if I did, it was with a six-year-old in tow. I heard myself grumbling and complaining to this person I’d just met, and I was telling myself, Stop it! Be funny, be cool. Stop doing this.
    But it was true and I couldn’t make it leave my head if it was there. While my friends were thinking about what their jeans looked like in their boots, I was wondering how much milk there was in the fridge. When they talked about makeup and boys, I was thinking laundry and kids’ TV. I said, “I’m not much of a picnic to know anymore.”
    Harper stood up and poured the rest of his tea on a straggly plant growing out of the curb. He said he’d be the judge of that, if it was OK by me.
    At about six thirty I stood up and started fixing the lights onto my bike. I wasn’t ready to leave at all. Harper said, “Did you want to stay and eat? I’m a not bad cook.”
    â€œI can’t. I have to get my sister. I have stuff to do.”
    I thanked him for the photo. I said, “I’ve no idea where it came from, but I suppose it’s mine and I’m glad to have it.”
    â€œYou’re welcome,” he said. “I’m glad it was you.”
    I wheeled out onto the darkening road, past the sad cases and the curb crawlers and the football players and Harper waving at me until he was out of sight.
    I couldn’t stop smiling.
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    When I got to Bee’s, she said didn’t I get her messages, that she’d sent three while I was gone. “Even I started to wonder if he was an ax wielder when I didn’t hear back.”
    I hadn’t checked my phone. I didn’t think she’d be worrying. “He lives in an ambulance,” I said because I knew she’d like that. “He’s from New York.”
    â€œDid you like him?”
    â€œYes, I liked him.”
    â€œWhat did you talk about?”
    â€œNot much. I wasn’t there that long.”
    â€œYes you were,” Bee said. “You’ve been gone nearly three hours.”
    â€œI suppose so. He’s traveling. He’s funny. He’s very cool.”
    â€œTold you,” she said.
    â€œI liked him a lot.”
    â€œHow did it go?”
    â€œHow did what go?”
    â€œDid you talk about the thing, the picture? I thought that’s why you went.”
    I said we had, but not really. “I don’t know. Maybe I did drop it. I must have.”
    â€œAnd you’re going to see him again.”
    I shrugged, like it wasn’t something I was in charge of. Even if I did want to hang out with Harper, there was Stroma to think about. I said that to Bee with my hands over Stroma’s ears while she wriggled to get free. I said it wasn’t so easy making plans with a kid in tow.
    Bee raised her eyebrows at me. She said I didn’t have to make life so complicated. She said she’d look after Stroma anytime. She said, “Not everyone minds being around little kids.”
    I stood there and I thought about my friends who’d rather be dead than seen out with my sister. I thought about the times they’d said couldn’t I just leave her somewhere, anywhere, and come out with them. Ithought about the times I’d wished I could. I felt like a bad person.
    I said, “Are you always right?”
    â€œCourse not,” she told me. “I’m just never