“Seems cash-grabby to me.”
“You don’t have to get us anything!”
Noah placed a hand on her thigh. “It’s a small get-together to celebrate our engagement,” he said. “Nothing fancy.”
“Except it’s at Stanus Tea Room,” Arden added, widening her eyes meaningfully. It was easily the most upscale restaurant this side of Massachusetts.
“Ah, St. Anus,” Phoebe said. “My fave.”
“Don’t call it that.”
“Well, maybe they should’ve considered what it looked like before naming it that.”
“Oh my god,” Noah said, a laugh creeping into his tone. “It literally is St. Anus.”
“Noah!” Arden threw up her hands. “Great. Now our engagement party will forever be at St. Anus. We didn’t even pick it.”
“Obviously,” I said, going for another bite of pizza. “You guys would pick someplace cool. A beer garden or something. Not the number one destination for straight white couples whose parents bought them vacation homes on the Cape.”
Noah feigned a gag. “Beer garden sounds fun. Wish we’d thought of that.”
“You should have a separate engagement party,” Phoebe suggested. “One for friends, one for family.”
“Not a bad idea. Although it wouldn’t help with the cash-grabbiness,” Noah said, shooting her a wry smile. “We’ll suck it up because it means a lot to our mothers. If they start dictating where we have the wedding, that’s where I’ll draw the line.”
“You should draw the line at them doing one annoying thing,” Phoebe said without a note of irony. “It’syourwedding. You shouldn’t have to suck anything.” She paused. “Well. Unless you want to.”
A piece of pepperoni flew at her face and she shrieked, batting it away. Arden pointed at her. “Do not. You are ababy. You don’t know what any of those words mean.”
“I’m gonna be fifteen in two weeks.” Her words sounded glum. I knew Phoebe dreaded her first birthday without Dad,but instead of plotting to overcompensate with gifts I couldn’t afford, I took a breath and let her feel sad. Itwassad. I wouldn’t let her stew in sadness all day, but we would carve out a part to remember.
“That’s right,” Noah said. His eyes flashed to me and I tried to convey theBe Coolmessage with my eyes. “Asking for anything good?”
“I want an Xbox, but we can’t really afford it.”
“I was thinking about upgrading. You could have my old one.”
Phoebe perked up. “Yeah?”
“Sure.”
“I wonder if Dex will be back by then,” she said, casting me a quick glance. “He said definitely before school starts.”
A tiny thrill zipped up my chest. “When did he say that?”
“A few days ago.” She plucked a piece of basil off her pizza, inspecting it thoroughly. “We text. He has good music recommendations.”
My throat tightened. “Yeah, he does,” I said.
“He could come over, right? For my birthday?” She looked so hopeful, it split open my chest.
“Of course he can.” I shook my head, gathering my thoughts. “I miss him too.”
Phoebe’s eyes lit up, but she trained her face into an impressively neutral expression. Dex would be proud. “So, you guys are good?”
“We definitely need to talk, but it won’t be the sort of conversation that would make me ban him from your birthday.”
She bit her lip to tone down the beaming. “Do you think he’ll come?”
