"Hey mum." he said as he pushed open the door and started kicking off his sneakers with more than a little bit of trepidation. Would his mum see right through him? Would he be able to hide just how good he felt right now, and show her the right amount of sadness over losing the house? He just had to hope that the bubble tea interlude after the park had done enough to make his eyes a bit less glittery, his cheeks a bit less flushed.
"Eddy!"
He looked to the kitchen in astonishment.
"Sis! What are you doing here?"
His sister was radiant, jet black hair flying as she stormed towards him, dark eyes shining.
"I thought I'd come home a bit, see my little brother!"
She threw her arms around him and it was like a coil he hadn't known was wound up started unwinding, relaxing.
God, how was it that sometimes you didn't know how much you missed something until it was back? Suddenly, now that his big sister was here, the house felt bigger, more spacious, more real.
Suddenly there were three of them again and that felt so much better.
"God, I missed you, sis." he said as he let her go and held her at arm's length. She had cut her hair, and she looked a bit different from last time he had seen her. More grown up. More a woman, somehow, her features just a little bit more defined. "You look well!".
"You too. What have you been up to?"
He could tell straight away from her answering smile, a sweet cheeky smile that went all the way up to her eyes and back, that his cheeks had coloured again. But he managed to keep his tone completely normal.
"I had my last violin lesson, and then I went for bubble tea with Brett."
Her eyebrows raised just ever so much, and the corners of her mouth pulled up. He had to work hard to stop himself from sticking out his tongue at her like he was six years old again. Instead he just grinned back.
"Well." she said with some weight. "You'll have to tell me all about your adventures at some point."
"Sure, sis. No worries."
His mum was joining them now and he could see how happy she was that his sister was back as well. Had she smiled this widely recently?
He blinked quickly. Okay. He might as well lead with this, right? Even if he was far from sure whether this was good or bad news?
"So, I have some news, the house fell through, mum. So I'll be here for a little bit still."
Oh. The look of pure relief that pulled over her face was short, so short that he guessed no one but he or his sister would ever have been able to catch it. But he was her son, and he did catch it, and it was like a dagger to his chest.
Oh no.
But he couldn't sink into his dark pit of guilt this time, no, because his sister was already pulling him to the living room.
"Come on, let's sit." she said. "Actually, let's sit in the garden and I'll tell you all about life in Sydney. Mum has said she's making hotpot so that should make you happy."
He blinked at her, then he looked at his mum. She had herself back now, she was looking like her normal self. Strong. Strict. But kind.
"Okay." he said as he walked to the back door. Might as well have a nice evening, right? If he was going to destroy everything for her in the future?
"Hotpot sounds fantastic."