My youngest brother makes the face of every man ever forced to choose between more food and helping with something that might make its way back to a girl he has a crush on.
“Ooohh,” Daph whispers.
“Now you’re catching on,” I say.
“Catching on to what?” Simon asks as Hudson disappears again.
“Hudson has a crush on the goat yoga instructor,” I whisper.
“She works at his favorite diner on Sunday mornings too,” Daphne adds.
“I’m giving up extra risotto for this,” Hudson says as he pushes out of the house, work gloves in hand. “Make sure you mention that part.”
Ryker rolls his eyes again.
“Do it,” I tell him. “Mention that part.”
He ignores me and heads off the porch, Hudson trailing behind slower.
Like he’s already eaten too much chicken and risotto.
“Did the goats truly bite off his ex-girlfriend’s finger?” Simon asks me.
“Whose ex-girlfriend?”
“Ryker’s ex-girlfriend.”
Daph explodes in laughter.
“Ah, I take that as a no.”
“Who told you that his goats bit his ex-girlfriend’s finger off?” I ask.
“Ryker. When the boys were attempting to pet them before dinner.”
Daph’s still cackling. “Dude. Ryker doesn’t date.”
“He made that up,” I agree.
Simon scoops another bite of risotto onto his fork. “I assumed as much. Thank you for verifying before I made a fool of myself in front of anyone else.”
He bites into the risotto, and his eyes cross as he sighs happily.
“Don’t thank us yet,” Daphne says. “We’re secretly recording the way you’re eating Bea’s cooking so we can post it on the internet if you piss us off.”
He slides one eye open, smiles, and shrugs. “The world should know what it’s missing.”
“And what do you get out of letting us use you to tell the world what it’s missing?”
I don’t bother telling her to knock it off and leave him alone.
It’s nice to have a friend who’s willing to ask that.
And before Daphne, I didn’t.
I was too young to really get along with most of the other parents, and too tired to make friends my own age to go out with.
Daph regularly reminds me that I saved her life by teaching her how to get by as a normal, often-broke person, but the truth is, she saved my life too.
