“That sounds like a dare,” Adrian chuckled.
“You’re the one sipping hot chocolate like you’re at your grandma’s house.” Miles made his way to the kitchen and reappeared soon after with a bottle of red wine in one hand, and four stemmed glasses in the other.
Adrian leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “So, what exactly happened with Emma tonight? A rebellion, I assume?”
I rolled my eyes. “A full-scale revolt. I think she was planning a coup. She definitely had allies among the stuffed animals.”
Miles laughed softly, pouring large glasses for each of us. “She’s ambitious. I like that.”
I snorted. “Ambitious or terrifying. The line’s thin.”
Ethan shook his head, smirking. “You get used to it. Eventually. Or not. Depends on your tolerance for things being upside down a lot of the time.”
There was a comfortable pause, just the four of us listening to the jazz and the faint call of the city outside. I found myself relaxing more than I had in months. For some reason, talking to them felt effortless. No judgment, no pretense, just easy conversation.
“How’d this happen, by the way?” I motioned to the three of them with a finger drowsy with wine.
“College.” Miles finished his beer with a drawn-out sip. There was nothing about him that said he had any other details to share.
I nodded along thoughtfully, then turned to Ethan. “So, when did you know Miles had a hidden talent for storytelling?”
Their laughter rippled through the quiet, and it was the first time I started feeling like part of whatever they had going on here. Some accidental family dynamic rooted in friendship. The warmth blooming inside me had little to do with the wine.
“Smartass.” Miles launched a throw pillow at me. I ducked left, and it whizzed past my head and onto the floor.
“I like this one,” Adrian said with a crooked smile. “She bites back.”
“We met in college,” Ethan said, his laughter simmering. He pulled up to sit, and I passed him the as-yet untouched glass of wine on the coffee table. “I was a senior, headed for an illustrious career in accounting. This one—” He gestured at Miles. “—was a journalism freshman, if you can believe it.”
Miles topped up my glass even though I was only halfway through. “Ethan had a habit of locking his keys in his car. I was on my way home from a party one night and saw him walking up to his driver’s side window with a rock.”
“He ended up saving me over three hundred dollars that night,” Ethan said.
“My lockpicking skills in exchange for his lifelong friendship.”
“Sounds like a win-win.” I snorted. “What about you, Adrian? How did you become ensnared in their friendship trap?”
“He’s the one who ensnared us,” Ethan cut in with a laugh. The wine had gone to his cheeks, flushing them pink, and his eyes held a mischievous spark I hadn’t seen before.
“What does that mean?”
Adrian slid to the edge of his chair, elbows on his knees. “I never had the attention span for school, let alone college. I had a thriving business selling, uh, supplements from the trunk of my Honda.”
“Supplements?”
“Don’t ask what you’re not ready to know,” he said simply. “Anyway, these two delinquents were regulars.”
“Okay, wait.” I held up my hands to stop the story time. “I’m hearing accounting, journalism, and… questionable side hustle. How the hell does that become Lumen Events?”
“So you did absolutely no research before applying for this job?” Miles asked, a playful lilt in his voice. He was on histhird beer, and it showed. “You moved in with a virtual stranger without so much as a glance at the About page on our website?”
He got me there.
I cleared my throat and focused back on the remaining wine in my glass. I was warm all over, and almost giddy with it.
“I didn’t look, because it didn’t matter at the time.” It was the most honest response I could’ve given, but I still kept my gaze trained on my glass the whole time.
Things had been so busy, I hadn’t really had time to obsess over the state of my life since taking this job. Now it all came crashing down on me with extra force. As if it had been building up momentum while on hold.
