"Second of all," Bobby adds from the passenger seat, "this was an elite event."
"You knocked over two chairs and tried to body check a Poodle," I say.
"Daisy started it," he replies.
From the porch Maddie yells, "Bye Dex!"
"Bye future superstar," Dex calls back.
He points at me.
"Great party, Shelly. Same time next week."
"Party's over," Gabriel says from behind me. "And this is not becoming a weekly thing."
Dex grins and slams the truck door.
Bryce leans out the passenger window of his own truck and points at Gabriel. "You host one backyard party and now it's tradition."
"No it isn't," Gabriel says.
Annabelle lowers her window from the other side. "You say that now."
"He's right," Dex shouts through the open truck door. "You've accidentally turned this place into the neighborhood hockey frat house with kids."
Mason starts his engine. "Get in before I leave you here."
"Rude," Dex says again.
Maddie waves both arms from the porch. "Bye!"
Three kids in the backseat of another SUV yell goodbye at the same time. Daisy lifts her head from the grass, decides no one is worth chasing, and drops it back down.
The engines start. Tires crunch on gravel. One by one the cars pull away.
The backyard finally goes quiet.
Well. Quieter.
The speaker is off but I can still hear the echo of laughter in my head. Daisy is sprawled across the grass like she personally hosted the event. Two empty pizza boxes sit on the patio table. Someone left a plastic hockey stick leaning against the fence. A paper plate is somehow hanging out of one of the shrubs.
Gabriel starts stacking chairs.
He looks tired.
Happy, but tired.
And that does something strange to my heart too.
"That was fun," Maddie announces.
"You tackled three people," Gabriel tells her.
"I scored," she argues.
"Debatable," he says.
She gasps dramatically.
