In the rearview mirror, I watched Henry, Sam, and Lucas settle into the back bench, pulling their seatbelts tight across their matching blue coats.

“Did Dad say he was coming to my science fair?” Lucas asked from the middle seat.

“He asked if he could sit in the back row,” I said, shifting the SUV into drive.

“That’s fine,” Lucas said, looking out the side window at the tall pines weighed down with heavy white snow.

“As long as he brings his own notebook.”

I pressed the accelerator, and the heavy tires gripped the snow-covered gravel of the driveway.