Seriously, that’s what our conversation had come down to. Soap smells.

Once we were done, I led him to the kitchen. The table was already set with an extra place. We were just about to sit down when the doorbell rang.

Mom glanced at Dad. “Expecting someone?” she asked. He shook his head. We get a lot of funeral-related phone calls during dinner, but never someone at the door.

“I’ll see who it is,” said Mom as she pushed back her chair.

A minute later she returned with Oren’s uncle. “Natan,” she said to my brother, “can you set another place? Oren’s uncle will be joining us.”

“Hi, Mr. Silver,” I said with a wave.

“Hi, Evelyn,” he said. “Good to see you. You can call me Jared though.”

I smiled back at him. “And you can call me Evie. I hope you’re hungry!” I glanced over at Oren. He seemed happy to see his uncle, but unsure at the same time. It occurred to me that he maybe didn’t know his uncle very well. And now he was stuck with him as his sort-of dad.

It must be so weird for him. Jared seemed nice, but still.

Jared tugged at the striped tie around his neck. “It’s very kind of you to invite me to dinner. I don’t want to be any trouble though.” He was wearing a suit, but not a dark funeral-type one. I wondered if he worked in an office. Or a bank. “I didn’t have to work as late as I thought I’d have to. I figured you’d be done eating by now, to be honest. I didn’t show up early just to wangle a meal out of you.”

Dad laughed. “Wangle or no, it’s no trouble at all. We were just about to start.”

“And there’s plenty. Ben always cooks for an army.” Mom laughed as she put her hand on Jared’s arm. “Truly, we’re happy to have you.”

While my brother set an extra place, I went into the dining room and grabbed another chair. I wedged it between Nate’s spot and Mom’s. Then I tucked a napkin under his fork. Leave it to my brother to forget the napkin.

“Thank you,” Jared said as he dropped into the chair. He smiled at my brother. “You’re a gamer?”

Nate frowned and then looked down at his shirt, which had some sort of nerd video-game logo on it. “Oh,” he said, laughing. “Yeah. Do you play?”

Jared nodded. “I have been known to. I was thinking of taking Oren to the new VR place by the mall. Have you been?”

That was Nate’s favorite place on the planet. His eyes lit up. “Oh, yeah! It’s really cool. You’ll love it!”

I glanced at Oren. He looked…not so excited. His uncle must have noticed, because his smile disappeared. He swallowed hard and then pasted a smile back on his face, though it didn’t seam as real as the one from a moment before. “Anyway. Whatever we’re having smells amazing. I thought dinner tonight was going to be a bowl of cereal.” Mom grinned. “That’s all Ben. His famous corned beef and cabbage.”