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I pressed my lips together to keep the laugh inside. “You adopted Henry, didn’t you?”
Eva scowled at me. “It was basically blackmail. Someone had to take him.”
“You kept him a secret from meall summer?”
She leveled me with a flat look. “Do I need to mention the office makeover I didn’t know about? I keep secrets from everyone. The price I pay for knowing almost everything.”
“I was going to convert it back before you got home,” I muttered.
“No need. I can’t live here anymore. It’s too close.”
She didn’t need to say any more. I wouldn’t forget the crazy weekend this last spring with the Eva/Mac revelation, Micah showing up, and the pregnancy scare. Things were strained after that for the last few weeks of the semester. Eva stopped having mandatory movie nights, and Mac started checking the landing before he left the apartment.
Her wanting to move didn’t surprise me, but the panic I expected to feel never came. With the money Harper was paying me plus what my parents kicked in, I could afford the apartment on my own. I’d miss Eva, but I’d gotten used to a long-distance friendship. Anywhere in town was better than the beach house.
Eva let her gaze wander the room with a sad look in her eyes. “It’s for the best anyway. Henry needs his own bathroom, and I’m not sure the apartment manager would be willing to overlook him living here permanently.”
“Can’t you just use your voodoo on him and make him do whatever you ask?”
She shrugged. “Evenmypowers have limits.”
I huffed out a laugh. I doubted anyone could stand against the full force of Eva’s manipulations.
“Where are you going to live?”
“I’m not sure yet, but I already had my mom’s assistant looking into duck-friendly places. It shouldn’t take us long to find somewhere.”
I opened my mouth to offer her Noah’s room as a temporary measure, but I managed to stop the words before I suggested she move in across the hall from Mac. “Noah and I can stay at his place until you find somewhere.”
She patted my arm. “That’s sweet, but you’re doing good things here and I’m not going to ruin that. I can stay with Blue for a few days.”
Only Eva would be confident she could secure a duck-friendly place to live on a couple of days’ notice right before the start of the fall semester. I loved this girl something fierce.
“What are you doing right now?”
“Henry and I are going to grab coffee and work my magic on potential landlords.” She sent me a wicked smile. “Enjoy doing your good things, and you’re welcome for setting up you and Noah at the alumni dinner.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “I hope you never use your powers for evil.”
She bent to put on her shoes, then frowned down at one of them.
“Oh my god, Henry. You laid an egg!” Eva pulled a speckled brown egg, slightly bigger than a chicken egg, out of her sneaker.
I stared at the egg for a second, shocked into silence, then I glanced down at the duck, who’d grown into the distinctive pattern of his brown feathers—herbrown feathers. “Unless I missed more than I thought in my biology classes, I think Henry is a Henrietta.”
The damn duck quacked, looking extremely proud of herself. Eva laughed and set the egg on the kitchen counter.
“Alexis is going to love this,” she said, sounding genuinely happy for the first time since Mac’s ultimatum.
“Dinner tonight?” I asked. “Margs and tacos on me.”
“You’re on. I’ll see if Blue is free.” She checked both shoes carefully before sliding her feet inside them. “I’ll send someone to grab my luggage later this afternoon.”
I hugged her tight. “I hate that this feels like goodbye.”
She rubbed my back. “It’s never goodbye. You can’t get rid of me that easily.”
Eva grabbed her duck and left with a cheeky wave, but the sadness crept from my heart to my head. Luckily, I knew a guaranteed way to cheer myself up.
