This day was an exciting one for his sister, but excited was not what Kyal felt. Taking Morag home would make everything real, that much was true, and he was very much looking forward to a new normal that again included his baby sister. But taking her home would also probably expose her to things he didn't want her to see. He didn't want her to see how badly he'd spiraled in the last few years, didn't want her to see him as anything less than the put-together big brother he'd been before. He didn't want her to know that he'd stalled, and that for the last four months, he'd had no life at all except for making sure he was there when she came back. She wouldn't have wanted any of this for him, Kyal knew that, but he'd still let it happen anyway.
So after spending a few days frantically cleaning up so she wouldn't see how he'd been living, he requested a half day so he could take her home and get settled without making her be alone in a strange place. When he left the back room with his things, he was indeed expecting to meet her in the front, but he wasn't so surprised that it threw him off.
"Hey kid, ready to go? You've got everything?" Not that Morag would have had much, but there were a few things of hers that he'd brought her from the boxes of her things that he'd insisted their parents keep after her death.