Dylan walks up in his emo rooster surfer sweater and shakes his head sadly. “I tried to put it on, and I was just too tall.”
“Hey! You’re here!” I nudge him, and he turns before giving me a huge bear hug.
Next he hugs Camden, who runs his hand over Dylan’s floppy hair.
“I haven’t seen you in person since I heard the good news,” Dylan says. “I like it.” He nods. “Have to say, I’ll miss the way you insulted Camden so thoroughly, but this is really nice.”
Camden puts his arm around me and leans in to kiss my hair. “Trust me, this is much, much better.”
Dylan looks at his phone when it dings, smiling as he responds.
“The fam’s been noticing that you smile at your phone a lot,” Camden says. “I don’t remember you doing that unless there was a girl on the other end. Something you want to tell us…about anyone in particular?” He lifts his eyebrows.
Dylan’s mouth opens and closes, and he puts his phone in his pocket. His hand goes to the back of his neck, and he rubs it.“Just wrapping up handing everything over to Rudy. I’m going to California on Tuesday, but I’ll be back in a few weeks…for good.”
“I can’t wait to meet Bill,” Goldie says, walking up to us. “I hope he and Kevin are best buds.”
“They will be,” Dylan says. “Bill hasn’t met a dog he doesn’t like.” He motions toward the house. “The bathroom’s calling.”
He turns and jogs to go inside, and I look at Camden. “He didn’t really answer your question, did he?”
“No, he did not.”
“Oh, are you talking about the girl he’s always talking to?” Goldie asks.
“You know it’s a girl?” Camden asks, leaning in.
Noah walks over. “Are we talking about Dylan?” he whispers. “I heard you say something about the girl he’s always talking to…”
Goldie leans in, and Erin walks over, kissing everyone on the cheek.
We all lose it over her sweater: a hen with a tight red dress and red lipstick.
Once the commotion has died down, she points at Goldie. “You had gossip face when I walked up. Spill.”
“We’re talking about Dylan,” Goldie says. “So I don’t have a name, but I might’ve seen the contact of a long thread he had going, and it was a flower.” She looks around expectantly.
“A flower,” Noah says flatly.
Goldie nods excitedly. “Right? It’s so obvious. Who else would he save as a flower emoji?”
“What kind of flower?” I ask.
“The cherry blossom,” she says without hesitation.
“You know the names of the flower emojis?” Camden asks.
“Yeah,” she says. “Obviously. What kind of artist would I be if I didn’t know that?”
“Hmm,” I say, pulling out my phone and studying the different flowers. “I’m impressed. I wouldn’t have known that.”
“That’s our girl,” Erin says. She leans in. “But I feel we’re getting derailed here. Do we know who Cherry Blossom is?”
“No idea,” Goldie says, shoulders falling. “And he’s being so cryptic. It’s not like him at all. Dylan has never been able to keep a secret to save his life. We stopped telling him about any Christmas presents we’d bought for each other because he’d spill every time.”
Everett blows a whistle and the Easter egg hunt starts, so the conversation pauses as we watch the kids run in every direction.
Camden pulls my back against his chest. “I love this. Being here with you…my family. You’re everything I wanted in my life, Juju.”
