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The two cousins make their way downstairs. Julie walks into the room first.
"Hey, Dad. What'cha working on ?" Julie says as Layla plops down on the couch opposite of Carlos.
"Well, now that the house is on the market, we need to add some photos to the website. Help me pick some good ones." He says waving her over.
As Julie passes, she moves Carlos's feet from on top of the couch. The boy frowns as Layla chuckles.
"Got this batch right here." Ray says
"These are really nice."
"Yeah ?"
"Yeah."
"Thanks. These didn't turn out, though. The ones from mom's studio."
Layla's eyes widen as she turns to Julie. The girl hadn't looked toward her, but she saw that Julie's eyes were in fact wide as well.
"It's like... little lights and dots all over the place. Kinda look like orbs, right ?"
Carlos jumps up, "Orbs ? I've seen some freaky stuff about those on YouTube. People say they're ghosts. Do you think that's Mom and she made some friends ?"
Ray chuckles, "That's a nice thought, but there are no such things as ghosts."
"Sounds like someone's spending too much time on the internet." Layla says
"You can just trash those." Julie says as she leans on the couch beside Carlos.
"All right. So trash, trash, trash." Ray mumbles
"Um, Dad ?"
"Yeah ?"
"I was thinking," Julie starts, "if we're just moving 'cause of me, and you, Carlos, and Layla wanna stay, I'm fine with that."
"I vote we stay !" Carlos interjects, "I don't wanna have to clean under my bed."
"Noted." Ray points, "What made you have second thoughts ?"
"I don't know. I guess a combination of things." Julie chuckles, "I know that tía says that moving is moving on, but I don't think that's the answer."
"I totally agree with you on that." Ray says standing up, "I mean, I think... I think moving on has to come from the inside. And one of us took a huge step this morning."
Layla smiles as she watches them.
"All our memories of Mom are here, and we should be too. Can we stay ?"
Ray turns to Layla as he raises his brows toward her. The girl was taken aback that her vote actually mattered, but she nods happily.
"All votes are in." He smiles holding his hand up, "Yes ! Yes. Yes ! Thank you."
