He scoffed.“Dude, what do I look like?A chump?”
“No,” I answered, grinning back at the guy.“But you do look like a man in love, and that you’d confess every secret that you’ve ever held if Rya asked you to.”
His grin widened.“You’re not wrong.However, luckily for you, she’s been too busy making sure that we had everything ready that she wasn’t looking for hidden gifts in the attic.”
“Where is she?”I asked as he led me through the house towards the kitchen’s sliding glass door.
“She’s chatting with Cynthia,” he replied.“I think she’s trying to make sure that she doesn’t feel left out or uncomfortable.”
“Sounds like her,” I muttered, even though Cynthia and Norman were going on a few months now, Rya was very sensitive to those types of possible situations.
When we finally walked out into the backyard, I wasn’t surprised to see only Norman, Cynthia, Rya, Ashford and Patricia Wilder, Ivan and Netti Kepler, my grandparents, and our supervisor at Precious Pets, Lindy Oliver.Honestly, the only person missing was Leandra.
At any rate, as soon as Norman saw me, he immediately made his way over, then wrapped me up in one of those manly bear hugs, but I didn’t mind.Like I’d said, this was one of my most favorite people on the planet.
“Dalton, son,” he said as he stepped back to give me some space.“It’s good to see you.”
“I miss you, too,” I grinned.
“Well, you definitely need to come over for dinner soon,” he remarked, though I recognized a command when I heard one.
“And what will you be feeding me?”I joked.
“Cynthia makes some chicken tacos to die for,” he said, grinning.“You’ll never want to leave after a plate.”
“In that case, I demand Rya’s old room,” I told him.“Me and her can arm wrestle for it.”
He laughed like I’d wanted.“I’ll leave that to the two of you.”
“Speaking of...”
“Yeah, I’ll leave you to it,” he said good-naturedly.
As I made my way over towards where Rya was sitting, I watched Cynthia get up to go join Norman, and I was glad that everyone here knew enough to know that I wasn’t being rude so much as Rya was my priority and always would be.Besides, I had plenty of time to make the rounds after saying hi to my best friend.
“Hey, babes,” I greeted before sitting down next to her.“When do the strippers get here?”
Rya grinned at that.“We don’t need the parentals partying it up all night.I’m trying to make a good impression on my neighbors.”
“So, are we waiting for Leandra to get here before we cut the cake and do presents?”
“You know damn well that there’s no cake,” she drawled out, though she was still smiling.
“It’s not a successful party without sweets, my sweet,” I told her, only half-joking.
“Luckily for you, Cynthia has a sweet tooth, and so Dad brought some cupcakes,” she replied, saving the day.“He even had them frosted to match the color of the house.”
“Your dad definitely understands the importance in the details,” I remarked before repeating my earlier question.“So, are we just waiting on Leandra?”
“She’s not coming,” she finally answered, grimacing a bit.“I mean...well, she already stopped by earlier to drop off her gift.”
I shot her a quick look.“What?Are you serious?”
Rya let out a very familiar heavy sigh.“She didn’t want to make things uncomfortable by staying.”
“So, she is avoiding me,” I surmised.
“No,” Rya lied.“She’s just trying to make things easier on everyone.”
