There’s a burn behind my eyes, in my chest. Part of me wants to slip back into the dynamics from a year ago, to be the girl who trusted Jack with all the secret compartments of her heart. When I got fired from Laika, she was the first person I wanted to tell, because I knew if anyone could make me feel better about my entire life falling apart, it would be her.

But it’s not that simple. “There’s nothing else to say,” I repeat.

Jack stares at me over the carnage of her breakfast preparations. “You’ve changed,” she finally decides, dropping her eyes to the waffle maker.

“You haven’t.”

She jerks her head up again, and I’m startled by the sadness in her eyes, the downward tilt of her mouth. “Ellie, I—”

“Morning!” Andrew singsongs behind me. Jack freezes as her brother strolls into the kitchen in a matching set of flannel Christmas pajamas clearly picked out by his mother. Whatever Jack was about to say is lost to this intrusion. “How are my two favorite girls?”

“We’re grown-ass women,” Jack grunts.

“Sorry. How are my two favorite women?”

Jack shakes her head. “No, never mind. It’s still gross.”

Andrew shimmies up to the counter next to me. “Fine. How is my favorite woman?”

“Um,” I croak.

That’s it. That’s all I say. All other syllables die in the back of my throat, just like whatever Jack was about to say. What was Jack about to say?

Andrew tilts his head in a flawless performance of a doting fiancé and kisses my cheek. “Good morning, Oliver.”

There’s a question on Jack’s face, and, never one to censor herself, she says, “Oliver is a weird pet name.”

What was Jack about to say?

“It’s her last name,” Andrew explains.

Jack flinches at this news before quickly returning to her whisking.

“Waffles almost ready?”

Jack eyes her brother. “I thought you only consumed whey protein shakes for breakfast these days.”

Andrew lifts the bottom of his shirt to flash his shredded abs at his sister. “I think I can afford a single waffle.” He reaches his other arm across the counter to swipe his finger into the whipped cream.

She swipes back with the whisk. “That’s disgusting! I don’t know where you’ve been sticking your fingers.”

“Aw. Come on, JayJay,” he croons. “You know you love me.”

Jack scowls as Andrew dramatically licks the cream off his finger. “Say it, Jacqueline.”

“I love you,” Jack mumbles begrudgingly under her breath.

Andrew struts around the counter, cupping his ear. “Sorry. I didn’t hear you.”

Jack raises her voice. “I love you,” and she adds, angrily, “BooBoo!”

Andrew grins and wraps his sister in a sideways hug. “I know you do.”