Therese moved in with Peter. Her father purchased her a new dresser, unwilling to empty her room. He sat on the floor with Peter trying to put it together. The instructions might as well have been written in Swedish themselves, they had rebuilt several parts of the dresser twice. They both were patient with each other but frustrated with themselves. Finally, they finished putting the last piece on.

“In case you are afraid to ask me how I feel about her living with you, I’ll tell you it’s up to her. I’m more of a bouncing board for her ideas. Even when she was little she would say, Dad’m I’m going to do this or that, Okay? Instead of asking me if she could do something.” said Therese’s dad Rodger.

Peter got the deer in the headlights look and froze.

“Relax man, she’s eighteen and a good kid, I have to trust that I have done my best to help her make good decisions.” said Rodger. Therese’s father also knew Peter would be easy to disassemble and hide in small parts if needed.

Peter finally was able to speak. “I love her. I want to be in for the long haul.” he said.

“Any day can be a long haul with women.” said Rodger, cracking open a beer and handing it to Peter and then opening one for himself, “To finishing this dresser, when the directions are as difficult to understand as women,” He toasted.

“Any advice on understanding women?” asked Peter.

“I’ll let you know when I have some.” said Rodger, drinking his beer and resting his back, it needed tuned and adjusted. He was glad the dresser was put together, and enjoyed building it with Peter.

“It won’t work dad.” Therese said, sitting next to her dad, and putting his arm around him.

“What won’t work?” asked her dad.

“I won’t break up with Peter just because you like him, I’m not fourteen.” said Therese, causing her father to laugh. Therese smiled at Peter, she had never seen him drink a beer before, and hoped he understood her dad handing him the beer was as a sign of approval. Peter grinned, he liked the beer, and it had been a long time since he drank anything.

Ana came crawling over, she had sat on her mat playing with her toys, she walked unsteady to Rodger. “Apa” she said. Rodger picked her up, and held her, he loved her squeezie hugs. It reminded him of when Therese was little and he could never put her down. “Apa.” she said again, to see him smile.

“I am going to make lunch before mom gets here and insists on helping me.” said Therese to her father. Therese had become as territorial about her kitchen as her mother was hers. Therese wanted to have the meal ready without her mother trying to teach her how to be a good wife. That just bothered Therese because she had watched her mother her whole life and had paid attention to every detail because she wanted to be just like her.

“Grab me another beer, while you are up. You want one Peter?” said Rodger to his daughter. Peter looked at Therese for the answer and nodded No.

“Like I said, You have my blessing to pursue the interests of matrimony with my daughter, but it is too soon to get my blessing for the wedding.” Rodger told Peter, who choked. “Relax, I was youngish once too, you know.” Rodger reassured him.

“I love her. Thank you” said Peter.

Therese liked cooking in the kitchen. She was slightly sad, as hard as high school was to her, she missed it, especially because it ended as soon as she had met acceptance. She missed having her daily routine, but was excited college would be starting, Therese was also excited she would start as an equal, because as Ben told her, no one knew who she was or really even cared.

There was a knock on the door. Therese grimaced, her mother was early. Therese smiled in relief when Kara yelled “It’s me.” Therese ran to the door, and opened it, the girls greeting in a hug.

“Can I make an extra lunch for you?” asked Therese.

“Perfect timing, yes and please” said Kara, then seeing the guys drinking beer, yelled “Can I have a beer?”

“Do I need to try and be a good influence, or is it just going to be wasted effort, and you do the whole Dad, I’m eighteen I can do whatever I want to routine?” asked Rodger.

“No, you can have the day off.” said Kara as she grabbed a beer and started drinking it. Kara hung out in the kitchen talking to Therese as she worked, mindful to stay out of her friend’s way.

“How’s living here?” asked Kara.

“It’s nice, I am glad we are close to home so I can still go garden. I miss the rabbits.” said Therese.

“So they haven’t followed you here?” asked Kara.

“No, I always told them to not cross the street, that doesn’t end well sometimes.” Therese said. Therese hated when the rabbits did not listen and did not fare well in the street. Most of those rabbits here were strangers, her friends stayed close to home.

Therese finished making a platter of sandwiches just as her mother arrived, Therese was glad her mother came, but she was glad that she had already finished making lunch. Peter’s kitchen had quickly become Therese’s kitchen, and she was territorial. Therese’s mother came in carrying a bag of groceries in one arm, and a sleeve of juice boxes in the other.

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“I thought you might need these.” said Therese’s mother, handing her the juice boxes.

“Always. Thank you, Mom, I love you.” said Therese, hugging her mother, who replied “I love you too back.”

“Beer?” Kara offered Therese’s mother.

“Hug.” said Therese’s mother, taking Kara and giving her an equally affectionate hug. “I love you too.” she told Kara.

Therese’s mother saw the plate of sandwiches. “Let me cut those for you, you know your father thinks they taste better when they are cut into triangles.” said Therese’s mother, causing Therese to be mildly irritated because although her mother was right, she took it as a polite slight to her kitchen skills.

“Lunch is ready, boys.” said Therese’s mother as she finished slicing the sandwiches. This irked Therese further as she had wanted to announce the lunch being ready. “Therese did an amazing job making you boys lunch, she always did make better sandwiches than me.” finished Therese’s mother.

Good save, mom, thought Therese.

Everyone sat at Peter’s table, Peter was glad Vivo had left him such a big table. Therese prayed the grace blessing for the food, and hands grabbed sandwiches. The boys ate quickly and grabbed a second sandwich. Therese had anticipated this and made a second sandwich for each. Ana was in her highchair nibbling toddler food between smiles and laughs.

“These are really good, and you even remembered to cut them in triangles, you know they taste better that way. I think that’s why I married your mom, she would always pack my lunch when we were still just dating after Therese was born, and she would cut my sandwich into triangles. All the other guys were jealous.” said Therese’s father, Rodger,. Therese’s mother politely avoided reminding Therese it was her who did it, because she loved her daughter more than she loved being right and that said a lot.

“She does feed me good.” added Peter. Therese smiled, she was glad Peter appreciated her efforts.

“I learned from my mom and dad.” said Therese, giving credit where credit is due. Her mom smiled and her dad took a sip of his beer. They still wish she stayed at home but respected her choices.

After lunch, Therese and Kara went in early to work. Therese was glad to be working with Kara. Erin planned to leave early to go home and swim in her pool, happy she could trust the girls with the store. Therese was wiping the counters, something she enjoyed, and she liked having a clean surface to work on. The cowbell on the door jingled, and Therese looked up to see Elijah and Benjamin enter the store. Therese walked around the counter to greet them.

“I guess this is goodbye.” said Elijah, taking a hug from Therese. Elijah fought his own tears. Therese had become one of his best friends over the past three years. Granted she always rejected his advances, and for good reason, but he wouldn’t trade her friendship for the world, either.

“Sorry, I wasn’t a better lab partner.” said Benjamin, taking his hug. Therese fixed the collar on his shirt, as he had a habit of not folding them right.

“Comb.” said Therese, Benjamin handed her his comb, and she fixed his hair as she had done several times before. “I’ll miss this hair, but I have not given up on it yet.” said Therese, as she finished and then gave him back his comb.

“You guys need to stick together, and everything will be OK.” Therese told them. She was proud of both of them. Therese wrote down her address for each of them and handed it to them. “A copy for each of you for when one of you loses it.” Therese told them.

“We will. Write, not lose your address.” said Elijah.

“We need to. Stick together, I mean.” agreed Benjamin.

“You guys are both special people, and you always will be.” said Therese. A silence fell. Both boys stood before Therese, realizing these might be the last kind words they heard for a long time. She looked proudly at them. Therese pulled a crumb off Benjamin’s shirt from lunch and flicked it on the floor.

“Show up to things on time.” said Therese, giving Benjamin a kiss on the cheek, to which he blushed.

“Look after him and try to be serious for once.” said Therese, kissing Elijah on his cheek, to which he blushed like Benjamin and had an equally big grin.

“Therese, there’s something I should tell you.” said Elijah apologetically.

“What?” Therese asked.

Benjamin interrupted. “We’ll probably just use our last names when we write you, rank and last name, it’s how they do it, so don’t worry about putting Benjamin on the letter if you write back, it’ll just confuse the mail clerks.” said Benjamin.

“Oh, good, I’m glad you told me. I’ll miss you both.” said Therese. She stood silently with her half-grin but both boys knew she loved them and was worried about them. They’d been her friend and never worried what others thought, so she knew they would be brave for what awaited them.

The boys stood silent, accepting this as the end of their beginning. Some other customers came in, but Kara started helping them. “Go make me proud. Well, you do, keep me proud.” Therese said, and the boys turned and left. She watched them leave and wondered what they would be like when they returned, she hoped they would both still be kind. Therese went back and wiped the counters, she would let Kara make the orders, Therese wanted a moment to miss her friends.

“You think they’ll be the same when they get back?” asked Kara Therese, while she was making ordered drinks.

“I don’t know, but if not, one day they will look up at the sky and remember who they are.” Therese said. Therese tried not to think about her friends leaving and went back to her work, but she missed them. Elijah had corrupted her, and the other, maybe he just needed someone to care about him.

Therese was sad too, it was as if high school had finally ended at that moment forever.

Peter came over and ordered a coffee. Therese’s face lit up, and her cheeks rose with a smile. She was always glad to see him. Therese made him a coffee, carefully and deliberately. She put her best kindness into the drink, as she always did and handed it to him. Their hands touched when she passed the cup, and Therese smiled, remembering the first cup of coffee she handed him, it already seemed so long ago. Peter thanked her for the coffee and went back to work, to the relief of Ben who hated when Peter took breaks because it interrupted his video game time which he was sharing with Ana.

After Peter left, Ben came over and brought Ana to Therese, because he needed to run down to the hardware store with Vivo. Therese was happy to see the little girl and hoisted her up and hugged her. Therese felt warm inside, and this also meant a break as she kept Ana away from the hot liquids, she sat off to the side by the bar and held her, playing with a little toy.

“Hey, you want to help this guy?” Kara shouted to Therese, as Mr. Shank walked in to buy an evening cup of coffee. The other customers had left just before he entered.

“Hi Mr. Shank.” Therese said excited and giving a big half-turned grin.

“Just Ed, I think we are past the mister part. Good morning, Space-Girls.” Ed Shank teased Therese, Kara and Ana. The girls smiled, they were always glad when he stopped in for a coffee. Erin came back from running her errand, mindful of trying to keep one of the three older adults at the stores. She greeted Mr. Shank and went to adjust a shelf.