I hear my dad leave thirty minutes later. The front door closes. His car starts and drives away.
Zinnia appears in my doorway, grinning. “Dad left. What’re we going to do tonight?”
I smile. A real one this time.
“Maybe something a little different.”
Zinnia bounces on her toes. “Like what?”
I pull out my phone and call Elle.
“Hey, can you come here instead?” I dare to ask.
Elle pauses. “Will your dad be there?”
I look at Zinnia. She’s practically vibrating with excitement.
I raise my eyebrows. “Actually, he’ll be gone all night.”
Elle laughs. “Okay, let me call the girls and see what they think.”
An hour later, my living room is full of girls.
Elle brought three friends—Hailey, Madison, and Peyton. I know Hailey from passing in the English building. Madison I’ve seen at the library. Peyton’s new.
They’re loud. Laughing. Spreading snacks across the coffee table like they own the place.
I love it.
“Okay, so what’re we playing?” Hailey asks.
Elle pulls out a box. “Catan.”
Madison groans. “I always lose at Catan.”
“That’s because you don’t build roads,” Peyton says.
“Roads are boring. I want cities.”
“You can’t have cities without roads, genius.”
We set up the board. Zinnia watches from the couch, fascinated. The girl’s invite her over and set her up.
The game starts slow. I’m terrible at strategy, so I just build whatever looks good. Hailey’s cutthroat. Elle’s scheming. Madison’s chaos.
“I’m trading three sheep for literally anything that’s not a sheep,” Madison announces.
“No one wants your sheep,” Peyton says.
“Rude.”
Then Elle pulls out her phone. “Now for Tigerlily’s favorite part.”
I freeze. “What?”
She screen-shares her phone to the TV mounted on the wall, and the hockey game appears.
My face burns.
