Tessa Johansson
Tessa springs from the truck before it's parked. She runs toward the sidewalk but is intercepted.
"Slow down." Eli wraps an arm around her waist and lifts her feet off the ground. "Let them finish inside."
"But I need to-"
Dominic steps out the front door, followed by Ethan, Cole, and Ava.
"Thank God, you weren't home." Ava approaches. She holds out her arms.
Eli releases her, and she steps into her sister's open arms. "What's going on in there?"
Tessa searches her sister's eyes. But she can't read her, which isn't anything new. As children, she could never decipher or read Ava's expressions because her little sister learned to mask her emotions well.
"Nala." The word flows from her lips like a pleading whisper. "Is she okay?"
Nala, her cat, her baby, wandered up on her doorstep one night. Her cries woke Tessa out of a sound sleep. She's had her for several months now.