She nodded. Solemn. Trusting in a way that made my heart hurt.
"Okay."
We spent the afternoon together.
It felt like slipping back into a favorite sweater, worn and comfortable. Evie helped with the initiative prep, stuffing envelopes with the same methodical precision she brought to everything. She organized supplies, color-coded filing systems, and grilled me about the communities we'd be serving.
Priya and Nalani came back from a site visit around three, laden with bags and talking over each other about some disaster with a venue booking. They stopped short when they saw Evie at the worktable.
"Look who's back," Priya said, her face breaking into a grin. "Our favorite volunteer under eighteen."
"I'm your only volunteer under eighteen," Evie pointed out.
"Which makes you our favorite by default. Very exclusive category." Priya dropped into the chair next to her. "What are we working on?"
"Envelope stuffing. Very important. Very glamorous."
"Ah yes, the backbone of nonprofit work." Nalani joined them, pulling up a chair. "Did Aria tell you about the time she got a paper cut so bad she bled on a donor letter?"
"That was one time," I protested.
"The donor still gave us fifty thousand dollars," Priya added. "We think the blood scared them into it."
Evie laughed. A real laugh, bright and young.
She chatted while she worked. School was starting soon, which she was dreading. Her grandmother had finally gone back to her own house, which was a relief. There was a boy in her class who she definitely didn't like but whose name kept coming up every third sentence.
"He sounds annoying," Nalani said.
"He is. So annoying. He always tries to sit next to me at lunch."
"The worst," Priya agreed, hiding a smile.
"And he keeps asking me about my summer, like he actually cares."
"Unforgivable."
Evie's cheeks went pink. "Stop it. I don't like him."
"Nobody said you did."
"Your face said it."
I listened. Laughed. Let the warmth of it wash over me.
Maybe I will recover. Maybe this hollow feeling in my chest would fade eventually. I'd lost Sebastian, but I hadn't lost everything.
The feeling lasted until Evie left, promising to come back next week, hugging me tight before she disappeared out the door.
Then the silence rushed back in, and I was alone with my thoughts again.
The next day was worse. And the day after that. I went through the motions, attended meetings, smiled at donors, but my mind kept drifting. To Maui. To him. To all the things I was trying so hard not to feel.
By the end of the second week, I'd perfected the art of looking busy while accomplishing nothing.
That's when they staged the intervention.
Priya and Nalani showed up at my apartment on a Tuesday night, armed with wine and Thai food and the determined expressions of people who refused to be turned away.
