That was when I noticed Jackson had just been staring at the bowl of pasta in front of him. It was completely untouched. I frowned. “Jackson?”

He cringed. “She’s been wanting this for months. This silly pasta with powdered cheese from a pouch. I teased her for it, said it sounded disgusting. Now I’m sitting here supposed to eat it without her. Feels wrong. Feels insulting.”

“Or maybe this is the universe’s way of helping us feel like she’s here with us.” Tegan’s eyes were glassy, and her cheeks were flushed. She ran her fingers through Tenn’s long black hair as he cringed. “Besides, think how excited she’ll be that you tried it.”

“And if you hate it, you’ll have time to prepare to lie.” I grinned.

Tenn chuckled. “And you’ll want to lie if you hate this. It is her favorite. Dad used to make it for us any time Mom was busy.”

“That was intentional, you know,” Tim said with a tight voice as he walked into the room and sat in the open seat between Tenn and Jackson. He reached out and served himself a bowl. “You two loved this stuff so much so they knew only serving it the nights your mother wasn’t around would keep you happy.”

“So devious. I love it.” Tegan giggled. “Bottoms up, Lancaster. It’s garbage and it’s delicious.”

“You really are such a conundrum.” Warner laughed. “You’re basically an American with a slight accent, since you’ve spent the majority of your life here . . . and yet, there’s just some British shit we can’t beat out of you.”

He sighed. “I think I’ll need Earl Grey tea for this.” He pushed from the table and hurried into the kitchen while we all laughed.

It felt good to laugh. As I took another bite and the flavor hit my tongue, I sighed with relief.

Constance cleared her throat and leaned back in her seat. She watched her two blonde daughters eating macaroni faster than any human should have, then smiled and turned her attention to us. “Okay, I know Tegan is back, which means our official leaders will be taking over, but if I may, I’d like to request that everyone stay rested and fed. This means sleeping and eating whenever we can. I suspect this will be like Salem and we need to take care of ourselves whenever and however we can so we’re always ready to move.”

Tenn groaned and tried to sit his bowl down, but Mona snapped her fingers, so he grumbled and picked it back up. He was still grumbling as he shoved a heaping spoonful into his mouth.