"Dear!" Sandy Friar gave Maya a huge, perfume-scented hug. "I am so sorry for your loss. It must have been so awful for you to find your mother in that house, all by yourself. You're so thin. It looks like you haven't eaten in weeks. Lucas, did you make sure she ate?"

"Yes, Mother."

"You poor, poor thing." Sandy rubbed Maya's back ferociously. "No father around either. This sort of thing happens in broken families."

"Maya and I are going upstairs now," Lucas barked.

Sandy took a step back, putting her arms up in defense. I knew it. She's a bad influence on him. "Now, Lucas, there's no reason to use that tone of voice with me."

Lucas walked Maya to the foot of the stairs, keeping himself between her and his mother. He looked over his shoulder, and his mother was looking at Maya like she could burn her with her eyes. "I shouldn't be here," Maya whispered to him as they started climbing.

"Don't be an idiot, thumbelina." Lucas said, straining his voice to keep it light. "Mom doesn't have much tact." Which is true. So that's not a lie.

The guest room was all made up. There were flowers and a Bible on the table by the bed, and extra towels on the chair. Lucas set Maya's bag down. Maya grazed the flowers with the tip of her finger. "These are lovely," she said.

Not as lovely as you.

"Let's go to the zoo today," Lucas said suddenly.

"Sure," Maya said.

So they went to the zoo. And it was a pretty good trip to the zoo. They didn't talk much, but she smiled at him every so often when an animal did something stupid. Lucas bought them hot dogs, and they ate them together on a bench. By the time they got all the way back to Lucas's house, it was dark outside.

Lucas's mom and dad were waiting for them on the couch.

"Hi, Mr. Friar, Mrs. Friar," Maya said. "Thanks so much for letting me stay here."

"You're welcome, Maya," Dustin Friar said. "If you don't mind, Sandy and I would like to have a word with Lucas, alone."

"Of course," Maya said. She went upstairs.

Sandy Friar crossed her legs. "Sit down, son."

Lucas sat.

"I'm afraid that your father and I have some…concerns."

Lucas glanced from one to the other. "Concerns about what?"

"Your relationship with Maya."

Lucas bit the inside of his cheek. He was not going to get angry. He had put that behind him. "What about it, exactly?"

"We have raised you to be a certain kind of young man," Dustin said, seeming uncomfortable with this whole situation. "We don't want you to do anything inappropriate. We realize that you're a legal adult now, but as long as you live under our roof and go to college using our money, you will follow our rules. Nothing is to take place between you and Ms. Hart. She is a very beautiful young lady."

"Nothing inappropriate is going to happen," Lucas said firmly.

"So…you don't like her that way?" Sandy narrowed her eyes at him.

What he felt for Maya was way more than liking her. "I would never take advantage of her," he said. "She just lost her mother."

"That's fine, Lucas," Sandy said. "But if anything inappropriate happens, your father and I have no choice. She will not be allowed to stay here."

Lucas nodded. "Understood."