Page 169 of Smoke and Glitter

"Looks terrible."

She gives me the finger without much energy.

Lucia has appointed herself keeper of the baby monitor. She checks the screen, announces that Wren is still asleep, then checks it again less than a minute later.

"Still asleep."

"Thank you, baby," Marisol says from the kitchen.

Lucia nods like she's been entrusted with national security.

Dom is helping Colt move food into serving dishes even though nobody asked him to, and Jake walks through the front door carrying nothing.

Summer points at him. "Finally. Someone who listens."

"I've known you too long to ignore a direct order."

He kisses her cheek, shakes Colt's hand and comes toward me.

"Hayes."

"Holloway."

Jake reaches past me for a beer, then pauses long enough to look me over.

"Happiness looks good on you."

I bump my shoulder into his, and he opens his beer.

The afternoon settles around us without anybody trying to turn it into an event. Summer gets through half a sandwich before Colt asks if she wants to lie down, which earns him a look sharp enough that he immediately finds something else to do.

At some point Sam passes behind the sofa and brushes his fingers across the back of my neck. A few minutes later, he circles back with a mezcal for me, one cube, and a glass of water beside it.

"Thank you."

His hand settles against my knee for a second before Dom calls his name from the kitchen.

I take a drink and go back to listening to Marisol finish a story.

Late in the afternoon, Summer pushes herself out of the armchair. Sam looks over from across the room.

"I can stand up by myself," she tells him.

His hands lift in surrender. "I wasn't coming over there."

"You thought about it."

"That isn't illegal."

"Come help me with something."

Sam glances at Colt, who becomes extremely interested in whatever is on his phone.

Summer disappears into the kitchen, and Sam follows her.

Interesting.

Jake has migrated back beside me and is telling me about a deposition involving a CFO, three missing invoices and potato salad he believes should qualify as evidence of negligence.