YENA

Lucy put one last bite of pancake into her mouth.

Then Tina appeared at her side and slipped another one, fresh off the griddle, onto the empty plate.

“Tina!” Lucy covered her mouth with her hand as she chewed. “Please, if I eat another bite, I’m going to burst.”

“Alright, alright,” Tina said. “That was just the last of the batter. Someone needed to eat it.”

Evan reached across the table and stabbed the steaming pancake with his fork, removed it from Lucy’s plate, and plopped it down on his own.

“I’ll take care of it,” he said. “There.”

“Thank you, Evan.” Lucy smiled.

“No problem. And hey, Yena said you’re gonna come visit us when we’re in the human world?” Evan asked Lucy. “That’d be cool.”

I wondered how Lucy was going to respond to this.

Last time I said something about that, she got kind of squirrely. I started to think that maybe it was too much to ask of her to travel during the school semester. So I didn’t want to push it.

“I would absolutely love to come see you guys,” she said.

Evan smiled at me. I appreciated that he was trying to go to bat for me. I think he knew that if my friend would come visit us, I’d feel more at ease about going to the human world.

“Now, before you two leave me,” Tina interrupted, “is there anything special you’d like me to make for you? Any last requests?”

“We’re not dying, Tina,” I said. “Just leaving for a few months.”

“I know, sweetheart. I just want to send you off on your journey with a good meal in your bellies. What do you say, let me make you all your favorite things, hmm?”

Evan finished his pancake and washed it down with some coffee. “Mom, anything you make will be great.”

“And how about you, Yena?” Tina asked. “Any requests?”

“Tina, I’m sorry but I’m with Lucy right now. You’ve completely stuffed me. I can’t even think about eating more food.”

Tina sighed dramatically. “Well, you kids just think about it later, then, and let me know! Anything you want, we’ll do something special for your last night at home.”

Tina’s question got me thinking about something else. Not food related. But other things I wanted to do before I left for school.

After we all finished up with breakfast, Tina insisted I spend time with my friend. “Evan can help me clean up,” she said.

Lucy and I went up to my room.

“I have an idea,” I told her. “What do you think about doing some volunteer work with me this week, before I leave?”

“Volunteer work? That sounds kinda cool. Anything in particular you have in mind?”

“Yeah. Remember that old man I gave the interview with at the orphanage?”

“Oh yeah. You want to go to the orphanage?”

“Actually, I wanted to go visit that old man. His name is Alaster.”

“Oh yeah,” she said. “Man, he looked super sick, at least in that video interview.”

I winced. “I know. Kinda why I want to go see him before…”

Seemed like Lucy understood.

“Yeah, I’d love to go with you,” she said. “And they have volunteer work for us to do there, too?”

“Well, I got to thinking about all this stuff I can’t take with me when I go abroad.” I opened the folding doors of my closet, which was bursting with clothes. “Especially all those samples I made for the business I’m not gonna wind up opening after all.”

The comment came out sounding more bitter than I’d meant it to.

I didn’t look at Lucy. Just kept talking.

“We can take the clothes over there and see if any of the residents will want them.”

“That sounds amazing,” Lucy said. “I bet they’d love it if we could do a fitting for them, too. Tailor the pieces to fit them.”

“Yes! Lucy, you’re brilliant.”

She grinned.

“Well, if they’re anything like me, they’re gonna love it. I always have so fun playing dress-up with you!”

“Perfect.” I started pulling a few pieces out of the closet. “When should we go?”

Lucy looked out the window. It was a rare sunny day outside.

“How about right now?”

EVAN

Tina put a towel in Evan’s hand and pointed at a tower of clean, wet dishes.

“Start with those,” she said. “I’ll clear the table.”

Evan started wiping the breakfast plates dry and stacking them on the counter.

He was quieter than usual.

Tina asked, “Penny for your thoughts, son?”

“Huh?” Evan turned to look at her.

“What’s goin’ on?” Tina asked. “You seem out of sorts.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” Evan opened a cupboard and put the stack of dry plates in their spot. “I guess… I’m just starting to get real nervous about all this.”

“Well, that makes sense. This is a big, scary thing you’re doing. And… Evan, I’m so grateful that you’re willing to do this for your sister.”

He nodded.

“And,” Tina pressed on, “is there anything else you want to talk about?”

“Like what?”

“Like… are you sure that’s all that’s bothering you? Just the moving, the travel…?”

Tina glanced up to the top of the staircase, at the door to Yena’s bedroom.

Evan followed her line of sight.

Yena was out of the house – she and her friend Lucy took off after breakfast to go do some volunteer thing on the spur of the moment.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Tina asked hesitantly.

Evan sighed. He picked up the damp pancake griddle and started drying its nooks carefully.

“Dad told you what I talked to him about?”

“Well, Evan, honestly, I already knew…”

“…And?”

Tina finished putting some dirty dishes a sink full of hot, soapy water. She wiped her hands dry on her apron, then went over to Evan and touched his arm.

“And,” she said, “are you alright?”

“I’m okay, Mom.” Evan put the griddle down and squared his body to Tina’s. “I’ll be fine.”

“I’m proud of you, son. It takes a lot of strength to put your own needs aside for the sake of someone you love.”

Evan nodded. He was wishing this moment could be over. He knew his mom was just trying to help, but this was unbearable.

“All I really need,” he said, “is to make sure she’s safe and happy.”

Tina smiled at Evan and patted his cheek.

“You’re a good man,” she said.

Evan finished drying the dishes Tina tasked him with. Before she could give him something else to do, he made an escape.

“I really need to get back to packing now, if that’s okay, Mom.”

“Sure, sure. Yes, go on ahead sweetheart. Do you need any help with that?”

“No, that’s okay.” Evan almost laughed aloud. Cuz he really did need help figuring out how to clean up his room and pack for the move.

But right now he mostly just needed to get away from this conversation about Yena.

Because the truth was, now that this trip abroad was coming up so close…

A new surge of hope had been flooding through Evan.

He envisioned being there in the human world, alone with Yena.

Finally, they’d be alone together every night. With more opportunities for Evan to win her over.

It could happen. He could see it working.

But he couldn’t talk about it yet. Couldn’t get ahead of himself.