The Roof Over Our Heads


 Contents
 
 Cover
 Title Page
 Copyright Page
 Dedication
 Chapter One
 Chapter Two
 Chapter Three
 Chapter Four
 Chapter Five
 Chapter Six
 Chapter Seven
 Chapter Eight
 Chapter Nine
 Chapter Ten
 Chapter Eleven
 Chapter Twelve
 Chapter Thirteen
 Chapter Fourteen
 Chapter Fifteen
 Chapter Sixteen
 Chapter Seventeen
 Chapter Eighteen
 Chapter Nineteen
 Chapter Twenty
 Chapter Twenty-One
 Chapter Twenty-Two
 Chapter Twenty-Three
 Chapter Twenty-Four
 Chapter Twenty-Five
 Chapter Twenty-Six
 Chapter Twenty-Seven
 Chapter Twenty-Eight
 Chapter Twenty-Nine
 Chapter Thirty
 Chapter Thirty-One
 Chapter Thirty-Two
 Chapter Thirty-Three
 Chapter Thirty-Four
 Chapter Thirty-Five
 Chapter Thirty-Six
 Chapter Thirty-Seven
 Chapter Thirty-Eight
 Chapter Thirty-Nine
 Chapter Forty
 Chapter Forty-One
 Chapter Forty-Two
 Chapter Forty-Three
 Chapter Forty-Four
 Chapter Forty-Five
 Chapter Forty-Six
 Chapter Forty-Seven
 Chapter Forty-Eight
 Chapter Forty-Nine
 Chapter Fifty
 Acknowledgments
 
 
 
 Guide
 
 Cover
 The Roof Over Our Heads
 Copyright
 Dedication
 Chapter 1
 Acknowledgments
 
 
 
 Page List
 
 i
 ii
 iii
 iv
 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
 10
 11
 12
 13
 14
 15
 16
 17
 18
 19
 20
 21
 22
 23
 24
 25
 26
 27
 28
 29
 30
 31
 32
 33
 34
 35
 36
 37
 38
 39
 40
 41
 42
 43
 44
 45
 46
 47
 48
 49
 50
 51
 52
 53
 54
 55
 56
 57
 58
 59
 60
 61
 62
 63
 64
 65
 66
 67
 68
 69
 70
 71
 72
 73
 74
 75
 76
 77
 78
 79
 80
 81
 82
 83
 84
 85
 86
 87
 88
 89
 90
 91
 92
 93
 94
 95
 96
 97
 98
 99
 100
 101
 102
 103
 104
 105
 106
 107
 108
 109
 110
 111
 112
 113
 114
 115
 116
 117
 118
 119
 120
 121
 122
 123
 124
 125
 126
 127
 128
 129
 130
 131
 132
 133
 134
 135
 136
 137
 138
 139
 140
 141
 142
 143
 144
 145
 146
 147
 148
 149
 150
 151
 152
 153
 154
 155
 156
 157
 158
 159
 160
 161
 162
 163
 164
 165
 166
 167
 168
 169
 170
 171
 172
 173
 174
 175
 176
 177
 178
 179
 180
 181
 182
 183
 184
 185
 186
 187
 188
 189
 190
 191
 192
 193
 194
 195
 196
 197
 198
 199
 200
 201
 202
 203
 204
 205
 206
 207
 208
 209
 210
 211
 212
 213
 214
 215
 216
 217
 218
 219
 220
 221
 222
 223
 224
 225
 226
 227
 228
 229
 230
 231
 232
 233
 234
 235
 236
 237
 238
 239
 240
 241
 242
 243
 244
 245
 246
 247
 248
 249
 250
 251
 252
 253
 254
 255
 256
 257
 258
 259
 260
 261
 262
 263
 264
 265
 266
 267
 268
 269
 270
 271
 272
 273
 274
 275
 276
 277
 278
 279
 280
 281
 282
 283
 284
 285
 286
 287
 288
 289
 290
 291
 292
 293
 294
 295
 296
 297
 298
 299
 300
 301
 302
 303
 304
 305
 306
 307
 308
 309
 310
 311
 312
 313
 314
 315
 316
 317
 318
 319
 320
 321
 322
 323
 324
 325
 326
 327
 328
 329
 330
 331
 332
 333
 334
 335
 336
 337
 338
 339
 340
 341
 342
 343
 344
 345
 346
 347
 348
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 For Bethany and Kristyn, my sisters and permanent friends
 
 
 CHAPTER ONE
 Three items remained on my to-do list: check in costumes, finish prepping dinner, and empty buckets in the attic.
 Jade arriving four hours early was not on my list. It was not on anyone’s list. Yet here she was.
 “Why?” I asked when I pulled open the front doors and found Jade standing on the carriage step in jeans and a white tank top, a small suitcase at her feet.
 “That’s no way to greet someone donating two weeks of her life to help out your family, asshat,” she said. She looked good in that tank top. Her dark skin—“bronze” was the word she always used to describe it—all glowy now that it was June. Her curly hair pulled back from her face. The other parts of her body doing their other parts things—not that I noticed. Or cared.
 Five years ago in sixth grade, when Jade learned that I, a white guy, had one white mom, one Black mom, and two biracial brothers, she double high-fived me. Right in the middle of math class. Instead of dividing fractions that day, she told me about her white parents, and we exchanged stories the whole hour and became friends.
 But a lot had changed since then.
 I forced my eyes to stay trained on hers. “My family does not need you here until five.”
 She raised an eyebrow. “I thought you might want help setting up.”
 “No, thank you.”
 “But—”
 Our argument paused as a blue Honda Civic pulled into the circular drive. Whoever it was hadn’t been here before—I could tell because of how slowly they were approaching the house. Gaping, probably, unsure if number four Summit Avenue really meant this five-story, red sandstone mansion.
 It did.
 Smiling, I sidestepped Jade and jogged down the steps. Unless someone had ordered food, this person was here to deliver costumes. Including mine.
 A bewildered-looking woman in her forties stepped out of the car. “Is this—”
 “Probably?”
 She laughed a little. “I’m supposed to be delivering costumes from Beauregard Costume Rental?”
 “Nice! Kathy and Mandi send you?”
 “Yes! I’m—”
 “New,” I finished.
 “Oh, god. That obvious?”
 I laughed. “No worries. You’ve come to the right place.”
 “I’m Jade,” Jade inserted herself. “And this is Finn.”
 I rolled my eyes at Jade as the woman keyed open her trunk, revealing a mountain of long dresses and suits on hangers enclosed in plastic dry-cleaning bags.
 “Finn,” Jade warned me as I piled the bags high over my arm. “Victorian costumes are really heavy.”
 I added three more to my stack. “Good thing I’m really strong.” In her defense, I didn’t used to be. But like I said—a lot had changed.
 “What is this place?” the costume deliverer asked, following us under the carriage porch and up the steps.
 I glanced at Jade and adjusted the costumes I was holding so I could open one of the front doors but didn’t respond right away. There was