Annabelle follows behind him carrying a tray. "And reinforcements."
"There’s more?" I ask.
"We brought food," Bryce says. "You're welcome."
The kids immediately swarm them like tiny vultures.
"Pizza!" someone screams.
Mason claps his hands once. "Alright, little gremlins. While the pizza cools, new game."
The kids turn instantly.
"Red light, green light," Mason says, pointing toward the fence. "Line up."
They scramble into a crooked line across the yard.
"If I catch you moving," Mason says, "you go back to the start."
"That's not fair," Dex says.
"You weren't invited," Mason replies.
"Green light!" Mason shouts.
The kids sprint.
"Red light!"
Half of them crash into each other.
Dex tries to sneak forward.
"Dex," Mason says without even turning around.
Dex freezes mid-step.
"You're twenty-seven," Mason adds. "Act like it."
"I'm extremely youthful," Dex mutters.
Daisy suddenly bolts through the line of kids, knocking two of them over like bowling pins.
The yard erupts again.
Natalie laughs softly beside me.
I glance at her again.
And realize something that has been creeping up on me for weeks.
It isn't one big moment.
It's all the small ones.
The way she laughs.
The way Maddie runs straight to her when something goes wrong.
