At ten past noon, Tobias and Rayshell pulled into the parking lot of a bustling shopping plaza. The sun beamed through the scattered billowy clouds, and the air was especially brisk. Passing patrons were dressed in coats or bundled in comfy sweaters. Tobias considered the weather perfect for riding, and his reticent guest, Kumiko, couldn’t agree more.
A loud sputter cracked the air as they settled into the empty motorcycle parking section near a pet supply store. The sound grabbed Trish’s attention, who waited for them on the patio of her favorite restaurant. She set her menu down and smiled as the pair walked up hand in hand, wearing nearly identical outfits.
“Dang, you two look great in all that gear,” Trish complimented, then sipped at her water. “Might even be inspiring me to get a motorcycle.”
“You should totally get one. I’m gonna sign up for classes in the spring,” added Rayshell, then hugged Trish. “We can do them together.”
“We’ll see,” she said through a chuckle, then greeted Tobias the same.
“Sorry we’re kinda late.”
“Not like punctuality is your strong suit, Ray,” Trish teased. “But we should still have plenty of time. My dad dropped me off while he ran a few errands.”
Rayshell and Tobias removed their armored riding jackets and took their seats in front of the frosty water glasses waiting for them.
“I’m so hungry,” whined Rayshell as she grabbed her menu. “Did they give us any bread yet?”
“Maybe.”
Rayshell pulled the menu just under her eyes and squinted at Trish. “Did you eat it all?” she asked as her friend chuckled. “You totally did, didn’t you?!”
“Relax, relax. They’re coming with more in a sec. At least, I think they are.”
Rayshell shot the paper covering on her straw at Trish, but it landed nowhere she intended. She jabbed it into her cup with a pouty expression and muttered, “They’d better.”
“So, Toby. Have you been here before?” Trish asked with her fingers interlaced.
“I can’t say that I have,” he replied after taking his eyes away from a group of people that walked their way. “But Ray’s been talkin’ about it all morning.”
“I wouldn’t doubt it. This is her favorite place to eat as much as it is mine.”
Rayshell excitedly chimed in, “Yeah, and I haven’t been here in forever.”
“Forever means more than a month, just for the record, Toby,” Trish clarified.
Just then, a waitress walked out with a refreshed tray of their signature lemon rosemary bread and a side of warm olives. Tobias smiled and thanked her as she set it down. Rayshell’s eyes were sparkling as if she were looking at a platter of gemstones.
“Did you need more time to order?”
“Yes, please,” answered Trish.
“One sec,” spurted Rayshell with a mouth full of bread as she quickly scanned the menu. “Can we order appetizers?” to which the waitress nodded. “Can we order the pickled veg, the, uh, kabocha chickpea salad, and, oh! This is new. Can we also do the heirloom tomatoes with roasted pumpkin seeds?”
The waitress took down her selections, then walked over to check on the other table behind them. Tobias looked at her with a smile.
“What?” Rayshell said as she went for another piece of bread.
Tobias shook his head gently. “Hey, lemme try some.”
As he noshed, the girls looked over the menu and commented on the new seasonal offerings. Content on listening to their chatter, Kumiko piloted Tobias to resume his watchful eye on the passersby. He felt incredibly anxious knowing Joro had not only located the girls but was brazen enough to approach them face-to-face if given the opportunity. And considering his abilities, his essence was nearly impossible to trace.
“Are you sure you don’t want to bowl with us tomorrow?” Rayshell asked Trish.
“Nah. I don’t want to be the third wheel on your date, you dummy. You guys have fun.”
Just as the girls went back to studying the menu, the waitress walked out with the appetizers and another round of steaming bread. Rayshell looked as if she was moments away from passing out from excitement. The colorful array of veggies plated among fresh, edible garnish was a delight to the senses.
“Have you decided on your order?”
“Um,” the girls said in unison, then hastily chose their dishes off the seasonal menu.
Tobias then ordered himself something he and his guest had never heard of before; a barbeque jackfruit sandwich with pineapple. Admittedly, it was the pairing of seasoned garlic fries that lured him.
After handing the menus back to the waitress, Trish took a few clicks of their appetizer spread, one of which had Rayshell’s grubby hands going right for the bread again.
“This looks fancy,” said Tobias as he poked the tines of his fork at the kabocha salad.
The girls took charge of the conversation while they all indulged in their appetizers. As much as Tobias tried to refrain, his eyes wandered again. His guest studied select individuals whose eyes happened to fall upon him. Some challenged his gaze, while others simply looked away. Although he expected Joro to be somewhere nearby, there was no way he could be sure. There was one thing he was nonetheless confident of; his diligence in keeping the two human girls safe.
Tobias broke from focus when the waitress placed his entrée before him. He politely thanked her with a smile as she walked for a water pitcher to refill their glasses.
“Where did you go?”
“Go?” asked Tobias. “I was here the whole time.”
“Oh, sure,” teased Rayshell. “What did we finish saying before you popped out of that trance of yours, then?”
Tobias took a big bite of his sandwich before he could answer.
“Ha! I knew it!” she burst.
“Yeah, you’ve been pretty distracted since you got here,” Trish commented, throwing him a suspicious look. “Is something the matter?”
Trish patiently waited for him to chew his food down so he could answer. Though she didn’t expect foul play, she did recognize a notable shift in his behavior.
“Nothing’s the matter. I guess I’m just people-watching. It’s funny to see everyone dressed like they’re entering a blizzard, but we’re sitting outside without jackets,” he pointed, thinking on his feet.
“You’re right,” said Rayshell as she scanned the plaza’s patrons that walked by their dining space. “It’s still really warm. Well, as long as you’re in the sun.”
Tobias continued working on his sandwich as Rayshell helped herself to a few of his fragrant garlic fries. As she leaned over, her necklace slipped out of her black buttoned shirt. The smooth surface of the medallion’s backside reflected against the sun and highlighted the hand-carved symbol.
Tobias did his best to keep his eyes from widening under Kumiko’s influence. “That’s a pretty strange-looking necklace.”
Rayshell crammed another couple of french fries into her mouth with a smile. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“Where did you get it?”
“It was a birthday gift from Trish. She has the other half.”
Tobias looked at Trish as she clutched her pendant above her bust. Upon noticing the tense look on her face, he averted his gaze as casually as he could manage. “Friendship necklaces?” he said, then laughed. “How adorable.”
“They’re not just silly little friendship necklaces. We wear them for protection.”
Immediately after her confirmation, Trish jabbed the heel of her white boot into Rayshell’s shin.
“What the hell was that for?!” Rayshell yipped.
With a nearly emotionless voice, she replied, “Oh, I’m sorry, Ray. My foot slipped.”
Rayshell glared at Trish as she resumed eating her biriyani.
“I’ve never seen a friendship necklace that looked quite as killer as that one. They’re usually super lame.”
Trish professed, “I was tempted to get her the cheesiest one I could find, just to mess with her.”
“What, like the heart halves? Or the pizza slices? I’d rock it no matter what.”
“You always talk the talk. But can you walk the walk?”
“Is that a challenge?” Rayshell instigated. “Do it then. Find me the cheesiest one you can think of, and watch me never take it off. I’ll be buried dead with it.”
“Oh, this is too tempting,” Trish playfully attested, then pulled out her phone. She immediately opened her favorite shopping app, then punched in the keywords ‘friendship necklace’ and scrolled through the list of results.
Tobias smiled as he watched the two of them react to the offerings while his pilot lost himself to nostalgia. Kumiko couldn’t help but reminisce of the times he so desperately missed; times when he, Navaryn, and Lowenna were an inseparable trio. He found the mannerisms of their human counterparts to be incredibly similar, which made him ponder if it was, in fact, their unique nature or if perhaps the essence of their Celestine prisoners had bled into their personalities.
While Rayshell squealed in delight over the kawaii offerings of one local polymer artist, Tobias inhaled the aroma of balsamic reduction that floated from her lips. He stared into her hazel eyes, fueled by Kumiko’s contentment. It vexed him to accept that their camaraderie was nothing more than a distant memory. If given the chance, he would sacrifice nearly anything to put things back to the way they used to be; the way he felt they were meant to be.
“Toby?” Rayshell called, then pushed on his shoulder. “Hello …?”
Instead of jolting out of his trance, his earthy brown eyes gently panned to hers while his light smile persisted. Rayshell’s childish pout instantly dissolved.
She gulped down the garlicky wad of french fries hampstered in the side of her cheek, then asked, “What’s up with you today? You seem, I don’t know—”
“Distracted,” Trish finished.
Tobias placed his hand on top of Rayshell’s. “I’m just enjoying your company. The both of you.”
Rayshell mirrored Trish’s contorted face. “I’m enjoying yours too,” she added, then held the phone in front of his face and asked, “So what do you think of this one?”
Tobias studied the pair of polymer bread slices with cutesy faces, one over jelly and one over peanut butter. “That one’s okay. But did you see this one?” he said, pointing to a set made of resin and mica shaped like a full moon.
“I was going for cheesy, remember?”
Tobias thumbed down a few tiles. “Okay, I have it now. This one.”
Rayshell and Trish leaned in. He pointed to a quintessential pairing of toilet paper and a neatly coiled turd.
“Which one would you be, Ray?” he asked as Trish nearly fell into tears.
“I know which one,” Trish claimed through her fit. “She’d be the shit. Because I’m always the one cleaning up her mess.”
Rayshell folded her arms, trying her damnedest to maintain a playful scowl, but ultimately failed under the influence of their merriment. “Well, you got a point. Remember that one time you tried to get Mila and me together at Teagan’s when we were still at each other’s throats?”
Trish’s eyes nearly popped from her skull following her friend’s recount. “What? What are you talking about?”
“Don’t even pretend like you don’t remember. Teagan nearly kicked me out after that whole fiasco.”
Fearful of what Tobias was thinking, Trish continued to deny every word of her recount.
“And you call me forgetful?” she smirked with an arched brow. “It was your smooth talkin’ that got me off the hook.”
While Rayshell continued spouting more of Navaryn’s memories, Trish took her by the shoulders until her distant gaze broke from the sky. “Rayshell,” she said calmly, “I have absolutely no clue what you’re talking about.”
Rayshell’s furiously churning thoughts quieted, and in the most believable way she could manage, she chimed, “Come on, it was just a joke.”
Tobias stuffed the last of his sandwich into his mouth while his mind churned with Kumiko’s thoughts. Hearing Rayshell recount Navaryn’s memories like they were her own was jarring yet filled him with eager anticipation. Unfortunately, the awkward silence that followed halted his hope of seeing Navaryn continuing to surface.
A few moments after the waitress brought over their check, a man in a red flannel shirt walked up to the metal gate bordering their table. He repositioned his gray trucker hat so the bill no longer obscured his view.
“There’s my lil’ girl,” he proclaimed with a smile.
“Hi, Dad. How was shopping?”
“Eventful. I had a lovely time trying to track down some of the things from your list. Made one of the clerks do a double-take when I asked them to help me find ‘a quinoa’.”
Trish and Rayshell’s eyes teared up from laughter.
“Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up, too, girls,” he said with a genuine smile, then looked at Tobias and extended his hand. “Greg.”
“Tobias,” he greeted with a firm shake. “Good to meet you.”
“Did these two get you to try any of their crazy food? They’ve got something on the menu that is supposed to be like shredded pork, but it’s some weird fruit.”
Tobias pointed to his white plate with nothing but crumbs, streaks of barbeque sauce, and a few cold garlic fries. “That’s what I had. It was actually very good.”
Greg cinched his lip. “I dunno. Not sure if I’m ready to cross into that territory yet.”
“You’ll get there someday, Dad,” said Trish with her finger in the air.
“I know, I know. You’ve been slowly working me over. I don’t know if I told you, but I chose a tofu noodle salad over one with beef the other day at work. A few of my coworkers gave me some funny looks.” Greg looked at the check in the middle of the table and took out his wallet. “You haven’t paid for that yet, have you?”
Trish shook her head.
“Here,” he said and handed Trish his card. “Lunch is on me.”
The trio thanked Greg for his generosity and insisted that he join them next time and try the jackfruit sandwich. Once the waitress brought him the receipt to sign, they all said their goodbyes.
“Have fun with the move, Ray,” said Trish after a tight hug. “Call me if you need any help.”
Greg put his arm over his daughter’s shoulder as they walked to his truck, then waved goodbye to Tobias and Rayshell. They returned the gesture until he eventually turned around.
“That was nice of him,” said Tobias as he slipped on his armored jacket. “I was planning on getting the check.”
“Greg is pretty awesome,” said Rayshell softly, relieved that his initial remark had nothing to do with her strange outburst. “Probably one of the only parents I don’t mind hanging out with.”
“Well, hopefully, he’ll take us up on that offer soon.”
As they both grabbed their helmets, Rayshell added, “We’ll see. He works way too much. Probably won’t get the chance for at least a few months.”
Tobias took Rayshell’s hand as they walked to his motorcycle. “Ready to get to some packin’ now that we’re all fueled up?”
Rayshell nodded. “Thank you again for helping me.”
“It’s my pleasure. Honestly.”
Their trip home was sunny, brisk, and over way too fast. Tobias pulled into their parking lot and into one of the spaces closest to the stairway, next to the moving truck. Elizabeth was outside sipping on a piping hot cup of black coffee with wild locks and an exhausted look. She had just woken up from a whopping four and a half hours of sleep and dreaded all the work slated to come. As Rayshell and Tobias walked down the hall, she glanced their way.
Though it was well into the afternoon, Rayshell greeted, “Good morning, Mom,” then hugged her, careful not to spill her coffee.
After a yawn, Elizabeth answered, “I’m glad you’re back. Jakobe could use your help with the boxes so we can get the first load over to the new place. I need to hop in the shower. Then I’ll help load afterward.”
After observing Elizabeth’s state, Tobias chimed, “Why don’t you leave the heavy lifting to us and take a rest?”
“And leave those two unsupervised?” she replied, referring to Rayshell and Jakobe. “We’ll be here through next week if no one is leading the parade.”
“Leave it to me. I’ll keep them in gear.”
“If you could manage that ….” She briefly looked into his earnest eyes, then gazed back at the passing cars. Halfway expecting him to fail, she still conceded. “Okay. Have at it.”
Tobias patted Rayshell’s shoulder. “Come on. Let’s give your mom a hand and blast through this.”
The pair set their gear behind the door and surveyed the front room. Jakobe was kneeling, re-taping one of the boxes Rayshell had packed the other night.
“Do you have any more boxes left in your room to pack, Ray?” Jakobe asked after he and Tobias greeted each other with their usual procession of hand gestures.
“A few. Why?”
“Don’t just tape them along the seam, especially if they’re heavy. Do it like this,” he said, pointing to the perpendicular layers of tape.
“Why? You just waste more that way.”
“Is that worse than wasting time repacking the box after it collapses?”
Sensing an impending spat, Tobias interjected in a warm tone, “It’s best to tape them like Jakobe said, Ray. I know that first hand.”
“Finally. Someone who understands,” muttered Jakobe as he stood to his feet.
“Hey Ray, I’ll help your brother load these boxes out here if you want to pack up the rest of your room. Just set them out here when you’re done, and we’ll take care of them.”
Tobias smiled at her juvenile body language as she walked down the hall. It reminded his host of Navaryn’s nature all too well.
Under Tobias’ lead, they tightly packed the first load of boxes in under two hours. Elizabeth took Jakobe along to help unload the truck while Tobias stayed with Rayshell. The sun had set, and they sat together on the floor at the foot of her bed, enjoying a quick breather from taping and stacking. All of their hard work had lent its payoff, and Tobias relished the pleasant warmth of Rayshell’s hand within his.
Kumiko smiled through Tobias. He was incredibly content with the fortuitous opportunity to focus on Navaryn’s presence for such an extended period of time, as distant as it was. The priority of keeping her safe was straightforward in her predicament, for Navaryn could not object to his protection. His roused confidence gave him the determination to be the one to bring her home.