Eva gave him a pointed glance. “Then when you get married, we can talk about it again.”
Nate had to smile. “Fair enough.”
He wondered if Stella would want to get married. Would it conflict with her free-as-a-bird life? Surely being mated was the same thing.
Although the mate-bond was more...natural. Inward.
“Besides,” Eva was saying, “I’m going to apply for every possible financial aid that there is. Maybe...if you wanted...” She hesitated. “If I get a scholarship somewhere, or enough grants or loans or something to cover tuition, maybe you could help with living expenses. I was going to ask Mom if she could help some with that, anyway, and I know that she doesn’t make enough here for it to be easy. Maybe you could help with that.”
“That sounds like a fair deal,” Nate said solemnly. “I’ll talk it over with your mother and see if she agrees.”
Eva nodded. “Okay. Thank you.”
“My pleasure,” he said, with absolute sincerity. “Now let’s eat. This looks delicious.”
They tucked in, and Nate was right: it was delicious.
Eva stayed quiet during the meal, inhaling her food. Nate approved; it seemed like too many teenage girls were starving themselves these days.
It was only after she’d soaked up the last bit of maple syrup with the last bite of pancake that she spoke again. “Has my mom showed you any of her drawings yet?”
“Her drawings?” Sensing something important here, Nate leaned forward.
Eva bit her lip. “Whoops. Probably shouldn’t have said anything.” But her eyes were conspiratorial.
“Well,” Nate said thoughtfully, “cat’s out of the bag now, so...”
She grinned. “Mom draws. She’s really, really good. She used to paint, sometimes, but we moved too much and Todd and
Barry—the guy before Todd—both didn’t want art stuff cluttering up their houses. So mostly she just draws now.”
“And she’s really good.” Nate could imagine it. Stella’s careful, graceful hand, sketching out a landscape or a person’s face... “What sort of things does she draw?”
Eva shrugged. “All sorts of stuff. Real stuff, not abstract or anything. She’s been drawing the Park a lot since we came back here. You should get her to show you.”
“I’ll try.” Would Stella be shy? Sometimes she was so bold, so brave, that it took his breath away, but sometimes hesitation took over her, and she’d drop her eyes and blush and fidget a little, and Nate would be overwhelmed by the desire to take her in her arms and say that she didn’t have to worry about anything.
“But also, I told her she should go talk to Mavis about it,” Eva continued, and Nate made himself refocus.
“Mavis?” The name was familiar.
“Nina’s mom. Or, uh, you don’t know Nina. Oh, Mavis’s mate is Colonel Hanes—did you serve under him like Ken did?”
“I did.” Colonel Hanes’ mate. Right. Because Colonel Hanes lived here now. Nate had to stifle the urge to sit up a bit straighter, check the entrances, in case the Colonel was about to walk in and see him out of uniform, slouched in a diner booth.
“Yeah, so, his mate Mavis is a financial counselor for small businesses? And she helped Aunt Lynn start really making money with her guide business, instead of just scraping by. I want Mom to go talk to her about trying to really get going with her art. And she said she would, but I think she’s going to chicken out.”
Nate choked on a laugh, and Eva nodded firmly. “So you have to make sure she goes, okay?”
“Why now?” Nate asked. “Does this have something to do with me?”
Eva bit her lip, looking guilty. “Um...”
“So it does have something to do with me.”
“Well—I just—maybe Mom won’t have to work as many hours as a waitress as she did before?” Eva said hopefully. “And maybe she’ll be able to take some time to see if she can make some money off of her drawing, instead of having to worry about getting money fast?”
Ah. Eva had absolutely refused to take any significant sum of Nate’s money for herself, but she was hoping that Stella might be able to benefit. It was more selfless than Nate would have expected from a teenager.