“Brenda was the judge,” Will said, still rolling his eyes. “She wasn't going to give it to her own kids , so of course she gave it to Grace.”

“She was good,” Sophie said . , pushing her bangs out of her eyes. “You're just mad your magic trick didn't work.”

“It would have if Derek hadn't stolen my quarters!” he snapped.

“What did you do?” I asked Sophie.

“Cartwheels. Eight of them,” she said. “I was dizzy at the end and crashed into the wall.”

She and Grace took turns telling me about their day, describing in great detail each act of the talent show, their lunch, and the game of freeze tag they'd played in Brenda's backyard. I loved listening to them and felt a little sad that I'd missed out on the day. I wasn't used to missing those days. I was usually in the middle of them and I didn't like that even one had escaped me.

“Momma,” Grace said, squirming in my lap. “What would you have done if you'd been in the show?”

I wrapped my arms tighter around her and squeezed her to me. “I would've been a judge, I think.”

“No, if you'd been a contestant.”

“Oh, gosh,” I said, shaking my head. “I have no idea. But I probably would've come in last.”

Will got up from the table and flopped down on the couch next to me. He was past the hugging and cuddling stage but his leg touched mine and I smiled. I would take that as a sign o f affection, a sign that he 'd missed me. “Brenda probably would've made you the winner.”

Emily walked out of her room and headed for the kitchen. She'd gotten home a few minutes before the other kids and, after grabbing a granola bar and a cup of milk, had barricaded herself in her room. She'd changed out of her school clothes and was wearing a pair of tattered black sweats and an old Girl Scout shirt that was at least two sizes too small for her.  “If you were in a talent show, I would pay money just to see what you'd do.”

And, just like that, the light bulb went on.

“That's it,” I said, squeezing Grace so hard she yelped.

“What's it?” Sophie asked.

“A talent show,” I said. I laughed. “We can do a talent show at Prism!”

Emily walked back into the room with a bag of barbecue potato chips. It constantly amazed me that she ate like a horse and didn't gain an ounce of weight. “What?”

“The fundraiser,” I said to her. “For the computers. We can do a talent show!”

Her face screwed up with confusion. “What are you even talking about?”

“Mrs. Bingledorf put me in charge of creating a fundraiser to raise money for new computers,” I explained.

Will snickered. “That name. So lame. Are you sure it isn't Bingledork?”

Emily ignored her brother's comment and stared at me for a long moment, a look of disbelief on her face. “Great. So you're going to be spending even more time at my school?”

“It's not your school,” Grace pointed out. “You don't own it.”

Emily glared at her.

“We can put on a talent show,” I said, the idea taking hold. “Students and their families.”

“That sounds lame,” Emily said, munching on a chip. “No one will go.”

“Everyone will go,” Will told me. “She's just saying that. If you charged like five bucks, everyone would come see people do stupid stuff.”

“And some good stuff,” Sophie added. She beamed at me and her expression made me feel like I really had come up with the best idea ever. “Like, people could play instruments and sing and stuff if they can really do those things.” .”

I just nodded, listening to them as they shouted out their thoughts and ideas. They were all right. Low admission charge. No overhead because we could use the auditorium to hold it. We could advertise it at school and in the community. And we could take donations at the door. It was a far better idea than anything else I'd come up with.

“Why do you have to be the one to come up with money for the computers?” Emily asked. Her fingers were coated with barbecue residue and she brushed them on her pants. “Shouldn't that be, like, someone who works at school?”

“You'd think,” I said. “But I have no clue. Your principal president asked me. And now I think I can actually do it.”

“Yeah, and you should make families participate,” Sophie said. “That way they'd come.”

“Oh, like a requirement?” I nodded. “That's a very good idea.”

“You and Em should do something!” Grace yelled. “Like synchronized swimming!” We'd just watched a documentary about summer Olympic sports and she'd been fascinated by the girls who swam in tandem.

Em's hand, loaded with a new potato chip, stopped halfway to her mouth.

“Oh yeah,” Will said, grinning. “Emily should totally have to be in it if you're in charge.”

“You guys could do something together,” Sophie said, looking at Em, then me.

“No,” Emily said, putting the chip back in the bag as if she'd suddenly discovered she was eating barbecue-coated spiders. “Absolutely not.”

“Oh, come on,” I said, smiling at her. “It will be fun.”

“You could lip synch,” Grace said, jumping off my lap. “I could help pick the song.” She broke into an off-key rendition of Shake It Off .

“Yeah, like a duet,” Will said, giggling. His voice had started to change, the deepness surprising me, but his laugh sometimes still sounded like a little boy 's .

“Shut up,” Emily said. “Just shut up.”

“Yeah, you could each sing different parts,” Sophie chimed in.

Grace was still singing, holding up an imaginary microphone.

Emily tossed the bag of chips on the table. “No. This is stupid.”

“It's to help your school,” Will said. “Why wouldn't you help? I thought you loooooved your school.”

“I'll take tickets or something,” she muttered. “But I'm not getting on stage with Mom!”

“That's mean,” Grace said. She stopped dancing and threw her arms around my neck. “I'd get on stage and swim with you.”

“Thank you, honey,” I said, not bothering to point out the logistical issues with her suggestion, or the fact that I wouldn't be caught dead in a swimsuit in front of the entire school. “But this time it'll just be me and Emily.”

Emily's eyes lit like tiny bonfires. “I'm not doing it.”

“You're going to have to,” I said, still smiling. “If I'm in charge, I get to be the boss. And I say we're going to do something.”

The younger three cheered.

Emily stomped to her room and slammed her door.

It was so good to be home.

THIRTEEN

“I think I have the perfect idea,” I said.

Evelyn Bingledorf, looking fresh and sharp in a kelly green blazer and white blouse, smiled at me from behind her desk. “Let's hear it then.”

Actually, I wasn't sure it was the perfect idea. I knew it was certainly better than any of the other half-hearted ideas I'd come up with until the kids had planted the seed in my brain. I'd spent the better part of the evening bouncing the idea off Jake, who seemed mainly concerned with the idea that my spending more time at Prism might mean more encounters with Derek. When I'd explained that it was going to happen quickly and would also satisfy all of our volunteer hours for the coming years, he warmed to the idea and told me he thought it was good.

So I'd made lots of mental notes in my head, slept restlessly and was out the door early to get to school to share my plan with Mrs. Bingledorf.

“A talent show,” I announced.

Bingledorf's expression didn't change. “A talent show,” she repeated.

I nodded. “Yes. Put on by the staff, the families and the students of Prism.”

She lifted her chin, her eyes narrowing, thinking. “Hmmm.”

“There are a few things that make it appealing as a fundraiser,” I explained. “Low overhead. We could use the school's auditorium to host it, we can get volunteers to take tickets and we'd need volunteers to perform. All of those things would be of zero cost to the school.”