your family dinner tomorrow. I was considering coming anyway after you asked, but I will for sure now."
Cara felt a twinge of excitement at his sudden acceptance of her invitation from a few days earlier. "You will?"
"Stay there and I'll come up with a plan to keep you safe. Your stalker ex-boyfriend threatened you yesterday, and I just don't feel good about this situation, so please, just for one day stay there with your parents, okay?"
Cara sighed. "I understand, and I know you're right. This is just confusing." She put her head into her hand, massaging her temple gently.
"Spend some time with your family and you can come to get me tomorrow."
There was a long pause between the two as they both considered the decision. Egrix was being very gentle with her, considering the circumstances. His patience, sympathy, and selflessness were comforting. She felt lucky to have him and she wanted to be happy about him coming to the dinner tomorrow. She wished her head didn't hurt. She wished she wasn't so scared. Her head swirled with all of these thoughts, and, more than anything, she wanted a distraction.
"Um, Cara. Can I make one request for tomorrow?" His voice came over the line after their long pause, sounding reserved, like she was made of glass and might break any moment.
"Yes?"
"When I meet your parents, I want them to see the real me. Would that be okay?"
"Yes, of course. You are okay with them knowing?"
"I am."
"Then I will tell them." She felt her heart race at the prospect.
"I'll see you tomorrow then, my dove." He hung up.
Cara bit her lip nervously, holding a stack of recently printed photographs in her hands. She could feel sweat breaking out around her hairline as she entered the dining room where her parents were eating.
"What's up, Cara Bear?" Her father smiled at her. "Is everything okay?"
"Uh, yeah." She knew she was being incredibly awkward. "I just… Have to talk to you guys about something, but it's a bit hard to explain."
Her mom gave her an inquisitive look. "Did something happen? What do you need to tell us about?"
"It's about Egrix." She looked back and forth between her parents, her mother wearing a concerned expression and her father looking angry. "He accepted the invitation to dinner tomorrow, but there's something you should know before you meet him."
She sat down at the table, looking at the photos in her hands anxiously.
"I just don't know how you're going to take this. It's pretty much the strangest thing I'm ever going to tell you and I'm not sure how to say it."
Both her parent's faces looked alarmed. Her mom placed a hand on Cara's arm to get her attention. "Just start from the beginning, honey."
"I met Egrix on the beach the day I got here, like I said. He was in a cave where I'd set up my camera and he asked me to leave. I was too stubborn and refused, but he lives in that cave and really didn't want me there, so he confronted me. He interested me after our introduction, so I followed him to his house that's set up in a cavern inside. He's working there to avoid people while he finishes a job and I've gone to visit him there every day. I've been helping him learn about trading and sales practices around here whenever I go out to take pictures."
She looked up at her parents who were staring at her with their mouths open.
"The reason I found Egrix interesting is the same reason he is living in a cave, avoiding people, and learning about local trade." She told herself she just had to say it and closed her eyes tight. "That's because he's an alien."
At the same time that she blurted this out she set the photos on the table and spread them out for her parents to see, closing her eyes to avoid any accusing glances. When she opened her eyes cautiously to gauge their reactions Her dad was investigating three of her pictures with a smile plastered on his face and his eyes sparkling excitedly as they flitted across each, taking in all of the details. Beside him she found her mother eyeing her, the skepticism apparent on her face.
"If this is Egrix then whose picture did you show us before?" she asked matter-of-factly.
"Those were probably him in disguise, dear," her father answered before Cara could open her mouth, drawing his wife's annoyed glare.
"Yes," Cara confirmed, "he had to cloak his