“NOT JULIEN!” they all shouted.
“I’m evolving.”
“You’redevolving,” Nathan corrected. “Into a person who wears sneakers and shows up late and doesn’t care about staplers!”
“The stapler thing was excessive.”
“IT WAS YOUR DEFINING CHARACTERISTIC!”
“I had a panic attack about office supplies,” I said. “That’s not a defining characteristic. That’s a cry for help.”
Winnie snorted, then tried to cover it with a cough.
“So what happened this weekend?” Hayden asked, his voice gentle now. “What changed?”
I considered how much to share. I considered that these people were my friends, not just my colleagues. I considered that they had been betting on my marriage and clearly cared about the outcome. “We had dinner with both sets of parents on Saturday,” I said.
“Oh God,” Nathan muttered.
“My parents were their usual judgmental selves,” I said. “They made several condescending comments about Athena’s parents.”
“Oh no,” Winnie said softly.
“Oh yes. My mother used the phrase ‘legitimate career path.’”
Gabriel winced. “Ouch.”
“It was.” I paused. “Until Athena’s father revealed he’s Woodlawn Malpas.”
Silence.
“Malpas,” Hayden said slowly. “As in—”
“Malpas Shipping. Yes.”
“The Greek shipping company.”
“Correct.”
“The one that operates in—”
“Forty-three countries. Fifteen thousand employees with a multi-billion-dollar revenue.”
More silence.
“Your hippie father-in-law,” Fitz said slowly, “is abillionaire?”
“Yes.”
“Abillionaire.”
“That’s what I said.”
“Abillionaire,” Nathan confirmed for clarity.
“Multi-billionaire, technically.”
Fitz started laughing. “Your mother must have—”
