Let the right one in

 Yuki just about passed out when she got her first message from the dating app. Oh, she didn't think it would happen this quickly. Could this be for real? Who was this person?

"My name's Jane, but everyone calls me Jen," she said she worked at the Mutual Omaha and had been there for quite some time. She lived at the Loft in the old market.

Yuki was in shock. This was someone with a real career. She was older. Almost forty.

Yuki didn't know what to say. Of course, Emily woke her to the fact that dinner was on the table. It was time to eat. So it gave Yuki some time to think. Wondering what she could say to this person who messaged her from the dating app. 

"What's going on? Are you all right?" Emily wanted to know as they sat down to pasta with chicken and a salad.

Yuki couldn't think what to say. This was all so new to her. She'd never put herself out there, like this. She was a nervous wreck.

"You're not worried about Axton, are you?" Emily looked at Yuki. "He's applying for scholarships. He could get into medical school."

"Great," Yuki planted a smile on her face as she went to nibble on raw broccoli in the salad.

"Nothing is really going on," Emily promised. Yuki nodded. 

"As long as you feel he's only being who you want him to be," Yuki found herself saying. "It's OK, if you want to get back together."

Now Emily looked sad. "I don't want him here. It's for the best." She nodded.

Yuki hoped she was right, but it was hard to say if Emily depended on her too much. She was the one who helped with the budget and made sure everything went as planned throughout the month. She even did the grocery shopping.

"You know, I'm like the big sister you never had," Yuki then smiled. But she felt as if she was rather small in this world when she thought of Jen on the dating app.

"Oh my God," Melissa got off the phone with Zelli. The weekend was looking up. "She is interested." Melissa didn't think Zelli would dare want to meet up with Yuki.

"What?" Now Riley looked as if it were a disaster in the making. "We shouldn't get involved in this." She shook her head,  no as she was trying to work on an art project for work on the kitchen table. She had various cans and paints. It was a children's activity.

"Oh, come on, you were the one who mentioned Zelli, to begin with," Melissa thought it funny now as she went to get herself some juice.

"I didn't mean anything by it," Riley was serious. "Maybe..maybe Yuki isn't ready. She just needs to, I dunno. Enjoy being herself."

"But it's only dinner," Melissa told her. "It'll be fun. Think of it as a dinner party."

"Then I'm inviting Brandon and Declan," Riley informed her.

"It'll be fine." Melissa kept smiling. Riley only winced with a sigh. "But, but Yuki might have met someone already. I mean, it would better to just find someone on her own. We shouldn't mess with this."

"Like I said, it's just dinner." Melissa shrugged back. Really, they never disagreed.

"First call Yuki, and see if she's OK with it," Riley said that was the least they could do.