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He heard another quiet laugh from the other end of the line, though his mom didn’t say anything else right away, and for a moment, a wave of deep homesickness dampened the joy he’d felt from his mom’s tease. He hadn’t been away from his mom for even a single night since she’d had her stroke, and although he’d been texting frequently with his dad to make sure she was doing fine, he missed her deeply. Her slew of health issues the last six months or so had been scary enough, especially back in July when she’d been hospitalized for several days, and he couldn’t imagine how he’d feel if anything bad happened while he was gone—even if his trip was only really about a day and a half long.

The text communications with his dad had been encouraging, though. His mom’s mental acuity had improved substantially in the last few weeks, after her doctors had adjusted one of her medications for an entirely different reason. It had been nothing short of a miracle, and hearing her joke, tease, engage sometimes in a bit of silly banter back and forth with him or his dad had been uplifting in so many ways.

“I’ll be home late tonight,” he said, sitting up. “Are you going to be able to put up with Dad by yourself until then?”

Cass heard a grumble from somewhere in the background and muffled words that had to have been from his father.

“I should be okay,” his mom said, a tease still in her voice. “In fact, maybe you should stay an extra day so you can go on another date.”

“Ma!” Cass laughed as he stood up from the bed. “Ah, I should probably get going. You have a good day, okay? And I’ll see you tonight.”

“I love you, Caspian.”

He smiled softly. “Love you, too, ma.”

“Oh, wait, your dad needs to talk to you,” she said, and there was some rustling on the other end before Cass’s dad cleared his throat.

“We have to get going here,” his dad said.

“Yeah, me too.” Cass shouldered his overnight bag as he looked around the hotel room, scanning for anything he’d missed. He probably should have left a few minutes ago, considering he needed to be on campus in twenty minutes and he was only somewhat confident he knew where he was going.

“Your plane still getting in at eight?” his dad asked. “Do you have a ride?”

“Yeah, Joe said he could pick me up. I should be home around eight thirty or so. But don’t wait up for me if Mom’s tired, of course.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“And let me know how her appointment goes?”

“Sure. I’ll text you.”

“Thanks, Dad.”

“See you tonight. Hmm—” His dad said something that Cass couldn’t quite hear, like he’d pulled the phone away from his ear. Then there was a short laugh, and he cleared his throat. “Ah, so, your mom wants to know if the weather is nice?”

Cass narrowed his eyes but then glanced out the window. The sky was bright blue, the sun shining. “Uh, looks like it,” he said, adding, “I don’t think there’s any rain in the forecast.”

There was another pause where he heard his dad’s muffled voice talking to his mom, followed by a low chuckle. “So then she says to tell you that a picnic in a park is a really great idea for a second date.”

Cass’s cheeks heated up, and he shook his head. “It wasn’t a date, Dad!”

“Hey, now, don’t yell at me, I’m just the messenger.” His dad was full-on laughing now, which Cass honestly wasn’t sure he’d heard in a really long time.

Another pang of homesickness hit him, and Cass swallowed and closed his eyes. “Give Mom a hug for me?”

“Yeah, sure. Have a good day, kiddo.”

“You, too. Talk to you tonight, Dad.”

Cass hung up his phone with a sigh and grimaced when he saw the time in the top right corner of the screen. Only fifteen minutes until nine. He was going to be late, even if he hurried. After one last look around the room, he headed out, phone in hand. He stopped briefly at the hotel’s front desk to drop off his keys and grab a bottle of water, then he exited through the front double doors of the hotel.

Brightness and warm sunlight hit him, and something about it was immediately energizing. He turned to his right and started walking briskly, tapping on his phone screen to open up his navigation app. He sort of knew where he was going and what route to take to get there, but the last thing he wanted was to be late because he’d made a wrong turn.

The streets were busy, and for the first half of his walk, he found himself weaving around other pedestrians and being careful to avoid getting hit by bicyclists and vehicles every time he had to cross at an intersection. However, when he turned off 45th Street onto Memorial Way, heading straight into the heart of the University of Washington campus, the entire vibe changed. The tree-lined sidewalks took him on a shaded path past dorms, lecture halls, and research buildings, and even though it wasn’t really “quiet” by definition—there were still cars and buses driving past him on the street, bicyclists peddling by, and other pedestrians walking along ahead of and behind him—he found himself feeling less hurried, the worries he carried with him all the time feeling slightly less burdensome.

He reached Kane Hall at five minutes before nine according to the time on his phone, and he paused right outside the entrance to the huge brick building, shifting his bag on his shoulder.

Grad school orientation.