Jordan followed her mother into the kitchen and handed a dish to Robin.

"This looks delicious, Jordan. Thank you."

Pierce waved and pulled a roasted turkey from the oven. The turkey sizzled as he set it on the counter to carve.

"It was so nice of you to invite us for Thanksgiving dinner," Mandy said. She looked around conspiratorially and whispered to Minjun who stood by the counter, "Jordan is excited to see Jinho. She hasn't seen him since he went off to the University. But don't tell her I said that."

"I'm standing right here, mom." Jordan shook her head and rolled her eyes at Robin who nodded at the dining room.

"Thanks, Jordan. This looks great." She took a casserole dish from Jordan's hands and set it on the table. It was already laded with a ham and sweet potatoes, several salads, and three kinds of bread. Robin wrapped her arm around Jordan's waist and gave her a hug as they walked back to the kitchen. "The guys are all in the other room. Scheming, if Evan has anything to do with it."

"Mmm, smells good!" Farmer walked in and patted Pierce on the back as he carved the turkey. He stepped over to Minjun and shook hands with him. "And how is your new University job going, Minjun?"

"Very well, though students are easily distracted. Biome construction is not for students easily distracted. How is your new business going?"

"Advanced farming techniques are not for farm boys who are easily distracted." They both laughed. "Actually, I'm really enjoying working with the smaller farms...families who have had their land for many generations are all very motivated to find ways to compete with corporate American greed. How is your citizenship going?"

"Good! The University Regent is very impressed with my work and he has helped me find an attorney who specializes in citizenship. He petitioned the attorney who initially filled out my paperwork. Of course, he was one of Maverick's attorneys and, well, we know what kind of trouble they're in. It may be a while before we hear anything." He shook his head ruefully, then brightened. "But I have big news! Jinho's mother has been given permission to visit."

"Oh, Minjun, that is wonderful news!" Mandy gave Minjun a quick hug. "Jinho must be ecstatic."

"Yes! She should be here just before Christmas. And how is Jordan?" Minjun asked Mandy.

"She's good. No symptoms since...well since, you know." She did an impression with her hands of something blowing up.

"And she's leaving since you all keep talking about her like she's not in the room."

Farmer laughed. "You can come back to help with dishes later."

"And it's like we never left the dome after all," Jordan said as she headed out of the kitchen to join the guys in the living room.

All three had video game controllers in their hands. She hung back to watch them for a moment. Jinho had clearly never played. His arms flew around wildly as he maneuvered his character, and he ducked and dodged with everything happening in front of him. He looked different, but Jordan couldn't put a finger on what it was.

Evan and Andrew, on the other hand, were relaxed and holding their controllers lightly, faces filled with concentration. Andrew paused to point out a key on the controller that Jinho should use.

"Incoming!" Jordan yelled as she ran to the couch and jumped across their bodies. The controllers fell to the ground as she fell across their laps.

"Oh, you asked for it now!" Andrew yelled. He started tickling her.

"Oh, no you don't!" Evan yelled as she squirmed away. "Hold her feet, Jinho!"

"Give! I give!"

Andrew pushed her off his lap, and she spilled to the floor laughing. He picked up his controller and went back to the game. Jinho held his controller out to Jordan and she shook her head. "All yours. I heard your mom is coming."

He nodded, unable to talk and play at the same time. Jordan squeezed in on the couch between Andrew and Jinho. She rocked back and forth bumping their shoulders until Andrew paused the game. "You want more?"

"Dinner!" Pierce's voice boomed from the kitchen.

"Oh, you are so lucky." Andrew tossed his controller behind him and pushed Jordan's head down as he stood up. "Last one to the table is a rotten egg."

Evan pulled on Jordan's hood as he walked by and laughed when she squealed.

"My lady?" Jinho stood and held his hand out. "I will gladly be your rotten egg."

Jordan laughed. "You should come with us on our next climb, Specs. Hey! You got new glasses!"

"I did! Do you like them?" He struck a pose like a model.

"Very handsome," she replied.

"Handsome enough to–"

"Stop." She held a hand up in front of his face, then bumped him in the head with her palm. "Take a weekend off from studying. There are a million nasty bugs in the desert for you. We're going hiking at Big Tubes just before Christmas. You should come."

"I don't know."

"Come on. What's stopping you?"

Jinho looked toward the dining room. "I don't want to be a third wheel."

"A third...Andrew?" Jordan smiled. "We're just friends. He likes some cheerleader at school. Danielle. He's trying to win her back."

"Maybe after my research study is done."

"There are lava tubes, you know."

"Lava tubes?"

She nodded. "Lava tubes. And all the bugs and protozoans that go with them."

"Protozoa," he corrected without thinking. "Maybe I will."

"Excellent!" She hooked her arm into his and froze. "Hey! Where's Aurum?"

"I let him go."

"You let him..." Jordan came face to face with Jinho and searched his eyes. "Why would you do that? He was your pet."

"No, he was a wild animal kept on a chain. We all got freedom."

Jordan blinked. She closed the space between them with a quick brush of her lips against his. Jinho's eyes were closed when she stepped back. He pursed his lips, and Jordan giggled.

"That was for Aurum. Let's go eat."

Jordan dragged Jinho to the dining room. As they entered, they caught the tail-end of a discussion about Dr. Carrel, the man who brought Maverick Biotech down.

"–not pursuing Leslie's death as murder because medical records and the death certificate assert she died of ALS," Robin was saying. "Finnegan turned State's evidence."

"And then mysteriously disappeared," Evan added waving his fingers together under his chin.

"That's horrible. The man lost his wife, his life, and gets no justice in the end." Mandy shook her head sadly.

"The research was stopped," Minjun noted. Mandy took his hand and gave it a quick squeeze.

Pierce tapped his glass with a fork. "Let's not go down that road. We'll all be too depressed to eat."

"Speech, speech, speech," Andrew chanted. Evan joined in, and then Jinho and Jordan added their voices.

"I'm not so good with speeches," Pierce laughed.

"You can blow up a dome, you can give a speech," Andrew provoked.

"Okay, okay." His fork made a light 'tink' when he set it down on his plate. He looked around the table. "When I look around this table, I can't help but think we all know how fortunate we are. New friends. New jobs. New adventures..."

"I was wrong. He can blow up a dome, but he sucks at speeches. What he's going to get to in the next week or so is that he asked my mom to marry him." Andrew flashed a smile at Robin who had turned bright pink. "And I said yes."

"And so did I," Robin added. She held up her hand where an engagement ring sparkled on her finger. Mandy put an arm around her and took her hand for a closer look.

Jinho leaned over and whispered into Jordan's ear, "How about a double wedding? I would take off a whole weekend for that."

Jordan burst out laughing. A blush colored her cheeks when she realized everyone had stopped to stare at her. She picked up the dish in front of her and said sweetly to Jinho, "Would you like some mashed potatoes?"

"I will say yes and note that you did not say no," he replied.

After dinner, Jordan followed Andrew and Evan back to the living room. Pierce yelled out from the kitchen, "Andrew, put the ballgame on."

"Already sounds like a dad," Jordan said to Andrew. He pulled her head down and gave her a dutch rub.

"I know, right? Makes me take out the garbage and everything." His voice sounded angry, but he was smiling. "Actually, he's pretty great. We've been going on hikes. Mom was so bummed when we went to Pecos last weekend. She won't be a private investigator for very long if she has to keep working weekends while we go off hiking without her."

"They go without me too, by the way," grumped Evan as he flipped on the television and tossed the remote to Andrew.

"Aww, poor baby," Jordan cooed at him.

A commercial filled the TV screen.

A narrator spoke over quick shots of families from around the world sitting at empty dinner tables. "Millions of people are suffering around the world."

A shot of a naked and starving child sat at the edge of a desert wasteland while a vulture danced nearby, wings spread, eyes fixated on the child. "But it doesn't need to be this way."

A mirage appeared far off in the desert and the camera zoomed in on a healthy field of corn. "We don't want to feed a man for a day. We want to teach the man to feed his family for life. At Advent Biologics, we are pioneering a healthier planet."

~~~ * Author Note * ~~~
Thank you for reading my debut novel! I hope you enjoyed the story. Writing Argent Glass was a labor of love that took over a year to write and edit. It will mean so much to me if you leave me a comment about your experience or vote for my novel.