“Apparently they’re incredible. But Joey panicked and said they were ‘still in development’ and hid the rest in the back.”
Stella laughed—a real laugh, not the nervous one she’d had since she walked in. “That’s so Joey.”
“We should sell them,” Anna said immediately.
Meg didn’t even hesitate. “No.”
“I’m just saying?—”
“Margo would lose her mind,” Bea said.
Tyler nodded. “She said she wanted to step back, not watch us turn the Shack into a test kitchen.”
Anna sighed. “Fine. I just hate notdoinganything.”
“We’re noticing,” Meg said. “That counts for now.”
Anna looked like she wanted to argue, but something in Meg’s expression must have stopped her. She nodded instead. “Okay.”
It was a small thing—agreeing instead of pushing, letting Meg lead instead of steamrolling. But Meg noticed. She’d been noticing a lot of small things with Anna lately.
“Hey.” Tyler set down his wine glass. “We should head back. Early morning.”
“Right.” Stella stood, brushing brownie crumbs off her jeans. “The phone call of doom.”
“Don’t call it that,” Bea said.
“The phone call of moderate discomfort?”
“Better.”
Tyler hugged Meg—a real hug, not a quick one. “Thanks for this.”
“You’re three houses away. This is the least I can do.”
“Still.”
Stella was already at the door, but she paused, looking back at the room full of people who’d gathered on a random Tuesday night just because she and Tyler were nervous.
“You guys are weird,” she said. “But, like, good weird.”
“High praise,” Luke said.
“Take what you can get.”
And then they were gone, the door clicking shut behind them, leaving the house quieter than it had been.
Bea yawned. “I’m going to bed. Big day of planning my class schedule tomorrow.”
“That’s not a productive use of your time,” Anna called after her. “Just decide.”
“Neither is stress baking!”
“That’s different.”
Bea disappeared down the hall. Luke stood, stretched. “I should head out too. Early tide charts to check.”
“Sexy,” Meg said.
