Mouse opened the refrigerator, took out what she'd need for a monster sandwich, and shut the door. She glanced at the front of the fridge, her arms full of ham, salami, tomatoes, and cheese. It was a hodgepodge of papers, receipts, and notes, held up by all different kinds of magnets. Mouse believed that the front of the fridge should tell the story of the family it nourished, and to her this fridge-front was perfection. Leo's drawings took up most of the space, and right in the middle was the pink felt declaration he'd given her at her wedding.

"First we had each other, then we had you, now we have everything."

She stopped whatever she was doing at least once a day to look at it, to read the beautiful words and enjoy the childish writing. She loved to imagine Leo's small hand holding the Sharpie, studiously copying his wall hanging for her, his new mother. He had made a mistake on one of the letters, writing a "v" instead of the "w" in the second "we," and he'd obviously gone back in and added the second part of the letter. For some reason, seeing this, knowing how he must've fretted when he realized what he'd done, made Mouse want to cry.

She could see that the edges of the felt were starting to curl up, and one of the popsicle sticks was coming unglued. It didn't help that it was on the fridge door, which was opened a hundred times a day. Mouse put her sandwich fixings down and unclipped the pink scroll from the magnets holding it in place. There was a frame shop a few blocks from Leo's school. She decided she'd stop by and have it framed. She carefully put it between the pages of a cook book, which she left out on the counter as a reminder.

Maybe Leo would feel better, more secure, if he realized how important his words were, how important he was, to the fabric of this family.

He hadn't been happy about going to see a psychologist. 

"But why?" He looked from his mother to his father as he sat in bed. "Are you mad at me?"

"No, Leo, we're not mad, not at all," Mouse replied. She gestured toward his cast. "You're going through a lot of things right now, and it seems like you feel like you can't tell us stuff, you know? So we thought you might like to have someone you could talk to, someone you could tell anything to."

"But I don't want to," Leo said, getting tearful. Dominick had warned him about this possibility. He, too, had gone to see a therapist, right before the decision had been made for him to divide his time between his parents.

"Son, we want you to try this," Henry said firmly. "Just go see her, okay? See if you like her? And if you don't, you don't have to keep going."

"Promise?" Leo asked. "Do you promise I don't have to go back if I don't want to?" He lay down, looking up at Mouse. They both noticed that he didn't look at Henry when he spoke.

"We promise." Mouse leaned down and kissed Leo on his forehead. He shook his head and pulled her down to kiss her mouth before releasing her.

So Leo had returned to school to face the new year, and told his friends about the therapist.

"I told you."

Dominick looked around at the group of kids gathered at the top of the jungle gym as he spoke. Kerry, Noah, and Leo looked back at him.

"I don't think it's bad," Kerry said, patting Leo's arm. "My uncle's a therapist, and he helps people."

But Dominick was shaking his head. "I think it was the therapist who told my mommy and daddy that they needed a break," he announced, nodding his curly head for emphasis. "I didn't have to start living with my daddy and Leah until after I started going to see her."

"What's her name?" Leo asked. He was wearing his new hat, one that his mommy had made especially for him. It looked exactly like R2D2 from Star Wars. She had made it without telling him, so it would be a surprise, and he'd found it in his stocking on Christmas.

"Dr. Baumgartner," Dominick replied.

"Hey, that's my same one!" Leo said. 

"That doesn't mean anything, though," Noah said. His red hair was vivid in the thin January sunshine. 

"What kind of stuff do you talk about?" Leo asked.

Dominick shrugged. "Just regular stuff," he replied. "Like last time she wanted to talk about how I felt about living at my Bubbe's house."

"You live at your Bubbe's house?" Leo asked. "Why?"

Dominick shrugged again. "I got a new X Box for Hanukkah, and I'm going to keep it at her house, and my mommy thought I'd like to live there for a while, so I could play it whenever I wanted." He sniffed, and wiped his nose with his sleeve.

Kerry reached out to pat Dominick this time, but he shook her hand off his arm.

"What?" he asked, sniffing again. "It doesn't matter. It's nice there. I have my own room, and she makes really good food. I like it there."

"It sounds really nice," Kerry said. Noah and Leo nodded in agreement.

Just then, their friend Kenny joined them at the top of the jungle gym. His face looked like a thundercloud.

"Kenny? What's wrong?" Leo was worried. Kenny was always happy, always laughing. 

"I think I have to change schools," he said bluntly. "I don't think I'm going to go here anymore after this month." He looked around at his friends to see the effect of his words.

"What? Why? Don't you like it here anymore?" Kerry pulled on one of her braids, something she only did when she was really worried.

"I like it here," Kenny answered. "I like it here a lot, you guys. But something happened over Christmas vacation, and I think I'm going to have to switch to another school, a free one.

"My stepdad left us," he announced. Then, to Leo's horror, Kenny's usually sunny countenance crumpled, and his friend started to cry, right there at the top of the jungle gym.

"He left you?" Noah repeated. "Like all the way left?"

Kenny just nodded.

"Maybe he didn't, though, maybe he just had to go somewhere for business," Kerry supplied hopefully. 

Kenny just shook his head. "He and my mom got in a big fight on New Year's Day. He said she trapped him, that he didn't want any of this, and then he left."

"Any of what? And how did she trap him?" Leo thought hard, trying to imagine a trap big enough for a daddy to fit.

Kenny shrugged, wiping his nose like Dominick had a few moments before. "I don't know," he said, looking around at his friends. "He's supposed to coach my soccer team again, I don't know what we're gonna do," he added. 

"What exactly did he say?" Noah asked. "Maybe you had a, you know, misunderstanding."

"I couldn't hear all of it," Kenny admitted tearfully. "They were in their bedroom with the door closed. But my mommy was asking him something about the new baby, the one that's going to be borned next month, and she told him she was worried about it, and then he yelled, and then she yelled, and then they both yelled at the same time.

"And then he left," Kenny concluded.

Leo thought hard. Kenny's daddy was so nice, and really funny. He used to put a dab of ice cream on his own nose and try to lick it off with his tongue whenever they went out after soccer. He loved Kenny, and Kenny's mommy.

How could he just leave? Daddys didn't just leave, did they?

Dominick spoke for the first time. "He needed a break," he announced to the group of kids at the top of the jungle gym. 

Kenny nodded, continuing to cry. "And now my mommy won't stop crying, even though she's not supposed to, because it's bad for the baby," he said helplessly. 

"Plus, she said it's my fault."

What?

Kerry, Leo and Noah all stared at Kenny, disbelieving. Even Dominick seemed shocked.

He merely nodded. His eyes were wide, and bright with tears. "She said he would've stayed if I hadn't been such a burden." Kenny began pulling at the zip of his coat. "She said I asked him to do too many things, and it made him scared of being a father or something. She said he would've been happy and stayed if it was just her and him and the new baby."

And now Kenny was sobbing uncontrollably, his cheeks red, his face wet.

Kerry scrambled down from the jungle gym, calling to Miss Abby in a distressed voice that Kenny needed her. Leo could see her talking to their teacher, her face plainly showing her emotions, gesturing to where they were.

Noah patted Kenny's back, and Dominick looked sympathetic, too, but Leo was feeling too much turmoil to offer any comfort to his friend.

Kenny's daddy, who was so nice and friendly and grown up, had left. Kenny's mommy was about have a new baby, which everyone said was such a happy, good, thing, and Kenny was such a nice boy, and his daddy had left them anyway.

And Kenny's mommy, another grown up, thought it was his, Kenny's, fault. 

Kenny asked his daddy to do too much. Like what?

Like coach soccer?

Like go out for ice cream?

Would his daddy leave him? And mommy, and Beanie? Could he?

Leo was confused, and upset. 

And so, so scared.