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you sure you don't want to stay?" she said. "Let me fix you and your grandpa plates. We're barbecuing out back."
    "No, no," I said, taking Grandpa Aldo's hand. "We're gonna walk home." I bopped some pink and purple balloons out of the way and moved us toward the door.
    "I meant to ask you about your mom. How's she doing?"
    "She's pretty busy," I said. "But she's okay."
    Ellie's mom patted my shoulder. "How about I drop Lena home after the party? It's no trouble."
    "Um..." I glanced toward Grandpa Aldo. "Yeah. Actually, that'd be great."
    We descended the porch stairs carefully, my grandpa holding on to the handrail. Luckily, Ellie's house wasn't too far from our place. It was in the small group of nicer houses at the base of the hill. Our walk home would be on the flats that ran toward the highway.
    "Too many stairs," Grandpa Aldo said, making it to the last step.
    "Yeah."
    "Just a minute." He leaned on the handrail. "Out of breath."
    "We can take the walk home slowly. Maybe we'll stop for a hamburger for lunch on the way. How does that sound?"
    "Where's my truck?" he asked, suddenly scanning the block, his brow furrowed.
    "Your truck? There's no truck, Grandpa. We're on foot." I tried to sound reassuring, calm.
    "My truck. The red truck." He kept frowning, staring out at the line of cars at the curb. "Someone stole the truck!"
    "No, Grandpa. You sold the truck years ago," I said. "Come on, now."
    He eiglooked confused for another moment, and then, at last, his face relaxed and he accepted the hand I held out to him.
    "It's okay. Come on. Let's go," I said, coaxing him along. "Let's get you some lunch."
    Reluctantly, he began walking alongside me. And, after a few minutes of slowly navigating the crummy sidewalk along the four-lane road, we finally sat down in an orange plastic booth. Between us, a brown tray held Grandpa Aldo's cup of decaf coffee, my cola, a large pile of fries, and two hamburgers. A poppy boy-band tune pumped out from the hidden speakers in the packed restaurant.
    "It's good," Grandpa said, around a bite of hamburger. He seemed so much better now that we were eating something.
    I removed the pickle slice from the middle of my hamburger and then took a greasy bite. "Mmm. Junk food."
    Aldo had a glob of mustard on his lip, and he tried to wipe at it with his paper napkin, succeeding only in smearing it around on his chin.
    "Here," I said, giggling as I brought his face closer to me. "Let me do that."
    Aldo smiled. "I'm a mess,
cara mia
"
    "No, you're just enjoying your lunch." I set down the napkin and handed him his burger. "Have some more."
    Just then, I saw Jason, Mark, and two of their friends at the counter, ordering. They were dressed in shorts, tees, and sneakers, like they'd just come from shooting hoops at the park.
    "Oh, great," I muttered, knowing it was my own fault for bringing Grandpa Aldo to a spot popular with kids from my school. My grandpa glanced over to see what I was fussing about, but he didn't say anything. I tried to eat more of my hamburger, feeling the sooner we could get out of there, the better.
    The guys moved away from the counter with their full trays and passed us, only to take the booth two down from ours. As Mark sat down facing me, he saluted me with his drink cup. Sitting across from him, Jason turned his head and gave me a casual nod over his shoulder.
    "You know those boys?" Grandpa Aldo took a small bite of his hamburger and chewed it slowly.
    I stared down at my tray and dragged a few fries through the ketchup. "Yeah, I know them."
    "Hey," Jason said, passing our table.
    He grabbed some napkins and straws from the condiment station and then gave me a small smile as he passed the table on his way back. I wasn't sure what his deal was, why he'd say hi here, and I was still wondering why he'd been hanging around my locker the other day. I decided not to worry about it.
    I took another bite of hamburger. "C'mon, Grandpa," I said, "let's finish up."
    He sippp>
Heed his