Mama's was a little hole-in-the-wall diner in Oak Harbor that Kiel used to take her to only on special occasions. And when they'd go, he'd tell her she could order anything off the menu, as long as he got the first bite. She always chose the chocolate chip waffles with the giant scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. And she'd always give Kiel the cherry, because she hated cherries. That always counted as his first bite, and once he ate the cherry, she was allowed to dig in. Today he didn't even wait for her to hand it to him before he plucked it from the top of the mountain of ice cream and popped it into his mouth.

"Not even going to wait for me to offer?" she asked, taking a spoonful of ice cream and hot chocolate chip waffle into her own mouth. "A lot's changed in four years. What if I like cherries now?"

He shook his head. "Well then that would be too bad. But I get the first bite, remember?" His order was actually different than it usually was. Normally he'd order a stack of pancakes with four bacon strips, four sausage links, and four eggs over easy. It was the Mama's Big Boy Special. But today he ordered an egg white chicken florentine omelet. She wrinkled her nose at it, remembering all the times her mom ordered almost the exact same meal at a restaurant in Seattle. "Don't knock it before you try it," he said, catching her disdain for his plate. "It's not too bad."

"Not feeling like a big boy today?" she asked, savoring the sweetness of the chocolate in her mouth.

"Since my doctor said I need to cut down on my cholesterol, I've been trying to be a good boy rather than a big boy."

Her eyes widened. She did not like the sound of that. "You have high cholesterol?" she asked. "Since when?"

"Since about two years ago," he answered. "It's not too bad, but the doctor said I should probably lay off the bacon and sausage. Trying to eat more vegetables. Kinda great too, because I hired this new kid to help me this summer, and he's on this really strict diet. Eats a lot of greens. He's been helping me out. Teaching me some new things. Guess an old dog can learn new tricks."

She rolled her eyes. "I wouldn't call early forties that old."

He laughed. "You would if you'd done only hard labor jobs since you were a teenager. My back went out a couple months ago. Can you believe it? I remember my dad telling me to expect that to start happening when I hit 30, but I didn't think he was actually serious. But I swear, the day I turned 30, I felt like I gained 50 pounds of weight on my shoulders. And I'm tired all the time."

"Hence the new hire," she said, knowing full well that her uncle preferred to work alone. "Well, I'm glad you're eating better."

They ate in silence for a bit. And then Kiel pushed his empty plate aside and said, "So what's the story, Em? Why'd you come back? What happened with your mom?"

She wrinkled her nose again. "Plead the fifth," she replied, because she really did not want to talk about it. He raised his eyebrows at her, and she sighed and looked at her hands. "I don't know. We're just different people, I guess. She wasn't really what I was expecting." Understatement of the year, but hopefully this would be enough information to get him to stop asking questions about it.

Kiel nodded his head, as if he understood. She didn't know what her mom had been like when they were teenagers, but she'd always heard that her mom was fun and wild and carefree. That her dad had fallen in love with her because she was everything he'd loved about his own mother. But the woman she'd spent the last few years with was none of those things. "Well, you're welcome to stay with me as long as you like," he said. "The new hire is living in my guest room at the new house, but I can move him into the office if you'd like. He won't mind."

"That's okay," she said, taking her last bite of waffle and pushing her own plate aside. "I have a place to stay. But thank you."

This seemed to surprise him. "Are you... staying with Avery and Axel?" he asked slowly, referring to her two best friends in town.

She shook her head, and she was suddenly aware of that folded up piece of paper in her pocket again. No one knew about it. No one but her. She hadn't wanted to tell her mom, because she was afraid her mom would take control of it. But she knew that telling Kiel was a safe bet. So she pulled the folded up piece of paper out of her pocket and handed it to him. His brow furrowed slightly as he took it and unfolded it, his eyes skimming the words she'd read a thousand times.

He looked confused at first. But then realization dawned on him. "She left it to you," he said, and Emersyn nodded. "All of it?"

She nodded again. "Yeah. The property taxes have been paid with the money from the estate."

"When did you get this?" he asked, even though it was dated in the corner.

"A few months after grandma died," she replied. He handed back the paper to her, and she refolded it and placed it back into her pocket. "You're the only one who knows about it."

"You didn't tell your mom?" he asked. She frowned and looked down at her empty plate. "Why?"

She shrugged her shoulders, but she knew why. Because her mom wouldn't understand. She'd want her to sell it. Use it and the money from the estate to pay to learn to do something she had no interest in doing. She'd kept it quiet until she figured out what she wanted to do with it. And last night, after everything happened, it hit her. So here she was. And here she would stay. She never wanted to leave again."

"So that's what you're going to do," he said.

She nodded. "Yeah. I'm going home. Moving back into the old house. Grandma left it, and everything in it, to me. I'm going to move in, and I'm going to treat it like a studio. Work and sell my art there. Grandma made a pretty good living doing it, so I don't see why I can't. She was the one who taught me."

He nodded, and she could tell he had more he wanted to say. But their server just dropped the check off at the table, and it was about time for them to leave. He pulled his wallet out and set a couple twenties on top of the receipt. Then he looked at her, took a deep breath, and said, "Listen, you know I've always been supportive of your art. I really am. But it's a hard business to get into, Emersyn. Your grandma had to work at it for a lifetime to get anywhere, and she got lucky. She had a lot of financial support from your grandpa."

"Yeah, but I have their estate," she said, gesturing to the letter in her pocket. His frown deepened. "Listen, don't worry. That's not my only plan. I'll try to pick up a job in town. Everyone there knows me, so I'm bound to get a job somewhere. And I'll work on my art in grandma's old studio. I'll figure it out."

"Okay," he said slowly again. He didn't seem wholly convinced, but she could tell he was willing to drop the subject for now. She was so grateful for this, as she could feel herself getting more and more tired by the second since she finished her waffle. "Well, I guess I'll just take you back home then. Just so you know, though, I'm only a couple blocks away from the old house. So if you ever need anything, don't hesitate."

She smiled tiredly at him. "I'll hold you to that." They stood up and left the restaurant, and Kiel didn't bring up Emersyn's plans again. She knew that they'd talk again later, but hopefully then she'd be less sleepy and emotional about it. Maybe by then the wounds from the night before would start to heal.

They got back into his old Ford, and he tried to make small talk with her, but she just kept drifting away. The weather was so warm and nice, and her eyes were so heavy. Next thing she knew, he was shaking her awake. "Emersyn," he said softly, and she opened her eyes. "Hey, we're here. Come on, let me help you get your stuff."

She was confused, but she nodded her head anyway. It took a few seconds for her to remember where she was and what she was doing. Kiel had already grabbed her luggage and was carrying it into the house, unlocking the old wooden door with the key he'd probably had since he was a teenager.

Emersyn blinked a few times, and then looked up at the old house. The yellow paint was more faded than she remembered, and one of the shutters to the front window was a little lopsided. Her grandpa's flower garden he'd worked so hard on was now nothing but weeds, and the yard was slightly overgrown. She imagined that Kiel had probably mowed it whenever he got the chance. Still, the house looked wilted. It reminded her of an old banana peel. Once so vibrant, now so dull and dingy. There were slats missing from the picket fence, and she wondered vaguely if they'd been kicked out by the wind or teenagers.

She watched her uncle disappear into the house. And then she opened the truck door and slammed it hard to make sure it latched. Then she walked up to the house that, for the first fifteen years of her life, had been her home. Her uncle stepped out as she was shuffling up the walkway. He stared at her for a moment, and she knew what he was doing. He was looking at the part of her that resembled her dad. Then he smiled and wrapped his arms around her in a gentle hug.

"I'm just a couple blocks away," he repeated, and she nodded her head, too tired to speak. "Okay, sweetie. Go inside and get some sleep. Call me later. Maybe we can grab dinner or something."

She nodded, even though she wasn't sure she would be awake for dinner. She'd been up for over 24 hours now. After what had happened between her and her mother the night before, she'd been unable to sleep, staying up all night thinking of her options. And now here she was, at her only, and favorite, one. She waved lazily at her uncle as he drove away, and then she walked inside, went up the old rickety steps and into her old room. The vanity was still there, just as she remembered. And the pictures were all still there too. Everything was the same as it always had been. Nothing had changed since she'd been there for the wake. And yet somehow everything had changed.

She collapsed onto her bed, ignoring the dust that jumped into the air, and passed out.

Chapter Two

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