Grayson comes over and gets in my lap.
Cards slap the coffee table. Dad restarts the count. Goldie steals the wild pile. Tully slaps a Skip on Milo, who fake-cries. Camden hoards Draw Fours like currency. Noah lets Grayson “help” by slamming cards at random.
Kevin curls on Dad’s lap, warm and snoring. I play a red seven, steal the lead, and for a minute, the room is chaos.
“Ahh, I’ve missed you guys,” I say, laughing.
Dahlia’s scent still clings to my skin under the hoodie, and Grandma Nancy wasn’t lying—I am pretty happy. The only thing bringing down my high is that I won’t see Dahlia for another couple of weeks, but it’s just motivation to get me to Minnesota faster. I’m already motivated to be here with my family, but ever since meeting Dahlia, moving is all I can think about.
I win the game, and we take a break to eat the food Grandma Nancy and Grandma Donna have prepared.
“How are things going at the shop, Dylan?” Dad asks.
“It’s been good. Each time I go back, I can see Rudy’s progress. He’s just still not fully ready to run everything on his own.”
“You’ll be going back frequently even when you move back, won’t you?” Goldie asks.
“Probably so, especially in the beginning. But I’m hoping I can eventually handle anything that comes up remotely.”
“Your house is so cool, though,” Camden says.
“Yeah, I’m going to be holding on to the house for as long as I possibly can.” I laugh.
“It’s a great investment,” Dad says. “Speaking of investments…I’d give good money to know where you keep disappearing to.”
I choke on the sip of coffee I’ve just taken.
Goldie snorts. “Do you have a Tinder account that we don’t know about?”
“No, I don’t need Tinder, thank you very much.”
“Oh, listen to the big man here. Nothing wrong with Tinder,” Tully says.
I give him a pointed look. “Are you on Tinder?”
He scoffs. “No! I don’t need that shit!”
Everyone laughs, and he lifts an eyebrow as if he’s daring us to argue with him.
“You did this disappearing act the last time you were here,” Noah says, leaning back in his chair. “What are you doing, checking the ice thickness? Walking the dock at dawn?”
Camden looks between me and Noah. “Is ‘ice thickness’ code for something?”
I shake my head, laughing. “If it is, I need to know.”
“Grayson asked where you were last night, and what did I tell you, little man?” Noah winks at Grayson.
“Uncle Dylan is probably wrestling a moose,” Grayson says with a big grin.
“What the f—” I start and then stop when I see all the narrowed eyes on me. “Fudgola,” I finish, smiling down at Grayson. “I wish I could see a moose.”
“Me too!” he says, happily.
Grandma Donna sips her coffee, her eyes twinkling. “In my day, boys sneaked out for girls. You’re sneaking out for…runs and ice thickness?”
Grandma Nancy pats the table. “Tell us, great explorer. What is your method?”
I groan and laugh at the same time, deciding to play along. “Okay, fine. I’m stress-testing the new excursion kayaks. Night trails. Very scientific.”
