"It is, but..." Guilt washed over her. "I was thinking of leaving after the holidays. Remember, I told you about this big reunion my family is planning. I don't want to disappoint them."
"Of course not. It's why I let you go home in the first place. Your parents needed you. It was stressful for them while you were...away. You traveling all over your own planet with me didn't ease their stress upon your return. Perhaps, it's better if you stay with them for a little while longer."
She wrinkled up her nose as they turned into the driveway. "You sound so mature and reasonable, Hernando. Makes me feel childish for whining in the first place."
"You have the right to feel the way you do." He pulled her into his arms and kissed her until she melted against him. "I've missed you these past few weeks, Olivia."
"I've missed you, too." She snuggled closer. "Is this why you dropped by the neighborhood?"
"Not entirely. I was on my way to a solar-powered vehicle manufacturing conference in Detroit, so I thought I'd stop by and give you this." He pulled away and reached into a cloth bag marked as an official diplomatic pouch from BloodDark and handed her two letters. "Both Valori and Annara wrote to you."
"Thanks." Olivia accepted the envelopes with a smile, cherishing the familiar handwriting on them. "It's so old-fashioned, but nice. I wish we girls could Skype or text in real time, but I suppose the laws of physics must be obeyed."
Hernando laughed. "You sound like the determined scientist who kept grilling us about how the Portal worked right after we arrived. 'The laws of physics must be obeyed!' he kept saying over and over. Why should space-warping, sub-atomic particles obey a boring person like him? He really thought he was the Earth's smartest person."
"As if." Olivia rolled her eyes and giggled. "What part about your explanation of an instantaneous trans-dimensional particle transit beam didn't he get? You'd think he'd never heard of time travel and the special theory of non-relativity before."
A rap on the car window brought them back to the present. Olivia scooted over to the door and lowered the window on her side. "Hi, Mom. Hernando stopped by to say hello. He's on his way to Detroit."
"Hello again, Mrs. Brown," Hernando said, using his best diplomatic tone. "Olivia tells me the plans for the big family reunion are coming together."
"They'd come together faster if a certain young lady would put her mind to them and help out."
A cold chill washed over Olivia. Her mother didn't sound or look too happy. Moira clenched her teeth and a small tic had begun at the corner of her mouth. "It's not what you think, Mom. I'm staying put. Hernando is just visiting this time."
Moira Brown visibly relaxed. "Pardon my manners, but won't you and your driver come in for some dessert? I just took a caramel-apple crisp out of the oven."
Olivia shrugged. "Do you have a few minutes?"
"I think we do. How about it, T.J.?"
Hernando's well-built driver turned around and grinned. "You know I'd never say no to an apple crisp, boss. We can always floor it on the interstate and make up for any lost time."
"Good man. It's settled." Hernando beamed a smile of pure charm at Olivia's mother. "We'd love to sample your delicious caramel-apple crisp."
The next half hour proceeded without incident. Olivia sent Britt a text and apologized for not making it over to visit her as planned. Her mother and father both acted friendly toward Hernando and T.J. and dished out big servings of apple crisp topped with vanilla ice cream for everyone. All in all, it was an enjoyable autumn Sunday afternoon. Olivia put down her empty bowl on the dining table and took a deep breath. Just as she felt confident nothing could go wrong, the question popped up in conversation.
"When are you planning to go home to your planet, Hernando?" her father asked in an innocent manner. "I'm sure your folks must miss you."
"They do, but they know I have important things to do here on Earth for the good of our world."
Olivia bit her lip. Leave it there, Dad. Don't say anything else, Hernando..
"Didn't you take them out to Los Angeles to visit your long lost relatives a few weeks back?" her father probed. His calm, deep baritone, along with his graying at the temples and horn-rimmed reading glasses perched at the end of his aquiline nose, gave Julian Brown the professorial air he craved.
"It was on the news here as well?" Hernando grinned uneasily.
Olivia had tried to impress on Hernando how fast news traveled across the globe, and how journalists were eager to follow him and report on every aspect of his professional and personal life, but he didn't seem to get it. He couldn't understand humankind's fascination with him. It was one reason why she wouldn't hold his hand in public or give any indications they were attracted to each other. The paparazzi would follow her around if they thought she and Hernando were a couple.
None of those precautions had fooled her parents. They knew. Of course, they didn't approve. She was their baby, their only child, and she was way too young to have a boyfriend who was an alien ambassador.
"Dad, why don't you tell us all about the new current affairs course you're developing?" Olivia asked, hoping against hope to steer her father into more neutral territory. "What was the title? Humanity's Relationship to the Cosmos and Extraterrestrial Life? It would be the first of its kind ever, right?"
Julian nodded but kept his focus on their guest. "In a minute, Ollie girl. I want to hear what Hernando has to say."
No, you don't. You want to put him on the spot and let him know you don't appreciate him interrupting your daughter's life and keeping her from enrolling in college. You're just too polite to couch it in such direct terms.
"My parents
