I followed the glance. “Careful. Evidence-gathering is how this family says hello.”
“I’m observing.”
“That is how it starts.”
She considered that, then looked back at Nick. “My dad does that too.”
“Yes, he does.”
“He thinks people don’t notice.”
“He is often wrong.”
Nick’s eyes came to mine.
Caught.
Beside the hibiscus, Luc bent his head toward Emme and murmured something in French that made her cheeks go pink and her hand tighten around her fork.
Sofia choked on her water.
Nick’s attention snapped to her. “All right?”
She nodded too quickly. “Fine.”
Emme’s eyes widened. “Sofia, do you understand French?”
Sofia wiped her mouth with her napkin, her face composed except for the tips of her ears. “Since sixth grade.”
Luc looked at her, then raised his glass with solemn approval. “Excellent. Do not reveal the full extent of your talents. This family cannot be trusted with classified information.”
Rayann leaned forward. “Oh, good. She’s tiny, judgmental, and bilingual. I want one.”
“She’s not available for adoption,” Nick said.
Daisy slid Sofia’s badge higher on her chest. “Custody denied. Internship approved.”
The evening deepened around us. The sky turned violet over the palms, and the first stars appeared in the thin slice of open sky beyond the roofline. Someone put music on inside, low enough to blend with conversation. The pool lights glowed blue.The candles burned lower. Brynn finally stopped threatening people with carbohydrates and let Jerrick bring her a second plate.
Emme and Luc were leaving for Patagonia again in two weeks, a fact Rayann had already mourned loudly because “Rome had better espresso, but Patagonia had better gossip potential.” Luc received this with a look of grave offense, then accepted the citation Sofia handed him for “excessive atmospheric contempt.”
“Accurate,” Emme said.
“Betrayal,” Luc said.
Daisy leaned over Sofia’s shoulder. “Add repeat offender.”
From beside the bar, Summer glanced up from her phone. “That is not how citations work.”
Sofia wrote something down. “Attempted meeting agenda,” she said.
Rayann gasped. “Oh, I love her.”
A year ago, I might have felt crowded by all of it: my house full of people, my sisters in every corner, their lives expanding and shifting and attaching themselves to new people, other countries, and other futures. My company was changing shape. Annie was leaving the CFO role for a doctoral program she should have pursued years ago. Summer was carrying a secret she was not ready to share. Emme was building bridges between Patagonia and Maris Key. Rayann was splitting her time between Rome and wherever Max’s work pulled him. Brynn had become someone’s mother while still threatening assault with pickles.
And Nick.
He was no longer standing at the edge of my life with one eye on the road. He sat at my table with his daughter beside him, inside the noise, inside the light, inside the future neither of us had been foolish enough to call simple.
