"Mmmm!"
Amity had missed Camila's cooking, and made sure to save every bite as she and Luz got her mother talked about what they'd been up to in the past several years. Amity finished college with degrees in engineering and business. Luz, of course, had been traveling cross country investigating the fringe, occult, and paranormal. It might not have given her the results she wanted, but it still made for some interesting stories and MewTube content, the money from which always got poured into the next adventure so she could keep traveling.
"I think I'm gonna give those travels a rest for a while. Maybe go back, finish college...keep myself grounded."
"I've been receiving your credit card bills, mija. You're already grounded...but it's nice to hear you wanting to settle down, if only for a bit." Camila gave Amity a wink. They'd kept in touch a little, even after she and Luz went their separate ways. It seems Luz had indeed come around to wanting the kind of stability Amity needed...the reason they split up in the first place. The witch blushed a little, but smiled nonetheless. Awkward as some of this was, it was still good to be back in this house with these two special people. Vee had apparently moved in with Masha a few years back, so the three of them were alone. And when Luz excused herself from the table, Amity found herself alone with Camila, and the conversation shifted. "It really is wonderful to see the two of you together again. She wouldn't come home much, but whenever she talked, I could tell she still missed you."
"Yeah, I missed her too."
"Did you ever watch her videos?"
Amity chuckled a little. "A little too much. It was the only way I could keep her with me, and I wanted an idea of how she was doing."
"So did I, but I noticed something about them." Camila took out her phone and handed it to Amity after pulling up Luz's channel. "Look at her face in the thumbnails."
"Yeah," Amity sighed, "I see it too." Luz was smiling every time her face was shown, but it was obviously forced. She'd gotten very good at recognizing a fake Luz smile over the course of their relationship. And then there were her eyes, which seemed to lose sleep with every subsequent video. By the time they reached the most recent video, she looked like Hunter did all those years ago. "That's Luz for you. No matter how sad or tired she really is, she does everything she can not to show it."
"But ever since she came home, something changed. Her eyes seem brighter, and she's smiling for real. I can tell she's still sad, but it's not weighing her down like it used to."
Amity wondered how much of that night she was allowed to share. She had her suspicions what was going on in Luz's head, but couldn't confirm it, so she resolved herself to be as honest as possible with Camila about her concerns. "All those places she visited? She was still trying to find a way back to the Demon Realm."
"Oh..." Camila looked down.
"The night she called me, she was...broken. It was another dead end. She couldn't handle the disappointment anymore. She told me she was done...that she loved me...but she wasn't trying to win me back. She didn't even think that was possible... She only wanted to say goodbye."
Camila's eyes shook with fear. Amity could tell the matriarch was processing this information and reaching the same conclusion she had. "Do you think she was about to...?"
"I...don't know for certain. But I couldn't take that risk. If I was never going to speak to her again, she needed to know I still loved her too...that I still need her...and it worked. She came back to us." Amity watched as a tearful smile swept across Camila's face. "I've been seeing a therapist who I think can help her too. I'm going to try and get us a session with her together."
"I'm not sure how to repay you."
"You don't have to. Like I said, I've really missed her. This just as much for me as much as it is for Luz."
Camila gave her a hug. "Thank you for telling me, nuera."
Amity laughed, "You're still calling me that?"
"I always believed you two would find each other again."