Page 84 of All the way home

Skepticism ripples across her face. “Okay . . . Loki.”

Kieran’s expression flashes briefly incredulous, then settles into delight.

Billie turns to Kieran. “And for you?”

“Do you have iced tea?” Kieran fixes her with a wide smile when she nods. “Great. I’ll have one of those. Thanks, Billie.”

“Of course.” She smiles, scribbling on her notepad, then puts Zach’s license down on the table. “Back in a jiffy.”

“Loki?” Kieran asks gleefully, snatching Zach’s license the moment Billie walks away.

“You’re not drinking?” Zach asks, desperately grasping at a chance to change the subject, but naturally Kieran doesn’t let him get away with it.

“Oh my God. Oh my God.” Kieran ignores his question, grinning down at the license like it’s a gift from the universe. “Zach is short for Zacchaeus?”

“You invited me for a drink,” Zach persists, “and then you ordered an iced tea. That’s—”

Kieran holds a hand up. “Your name is Loki Zacchaeus. You’re for real.”

He sighs.

“Like, you’re not fucking with me? This is a real license?” Kieran tilts it the same way the waitress had, examining the shine. “Loki? Zacchaeus? Do your parents hate you?”

“My parents are . . . interesting.” Zach rubs his eyes. “They’ve always been sort of out there.”

“Sort of? They named you Loki Zacchaeus.”

“My brother got to be Erik,” Zach mumbles.

To his credit, Kieran doesn’t laugh, but he obviously wants to. “Wait. You said you have three siblings. Erik seems pretty normal. Do the other two have names like this too?”

“I guess.” Zach snatches the license back. “My oldest sister’s Anwen, which is fine, and her middle name is Zillah. So, like, relatively painless. But then they had my other sister, Tove, and were like, yeah, sure let’s just keep this Z middle-name trend going, so her middle name is Zipporah. Then there’s me”—Zach pulls a face—“and then Erik got Zephaniah.”

“You definitely got the worst of it.”

“In their defense, I was born way before the Avengers brought Loki into the mainstream.”

“You have to be fucking with me.” Kieran shakes his head.

“I can prove it.”

“You won’t, because there’s no way.”

“I will! Right now.” Zach glances at his watch, grinning. He should call home, anyway, just to check in. They’ll all be awake—it’s not like Yule at the Loren household leaves room for sleeping.

And Tove has texted him, anyway. Up from her nap—or, more likely, given up on pretending. Zach pauses, thumb hovering over the screen, then hits the Call button. What the hell. If they keep talking, Kieran’s going to find out what his family is like anyway.

While it’s ringing, he grins up at Kieran, phone to his ear. “No judging.”

Kieran lifts both hands in surrender.

Tove picks up right away. “ ’Sup, Zachie-boy? You’re still in Calgary?”

Wrinkling his nose at the nickname, he nods. “No news yet about when we’re actually gonna fly.”

“Well, you gotta be here for the snow fort tomorrow. Erik’s gearing up to destroy you, last I heard.”

God, Zach’s missed home. A warm glow diffuses through him. “Listen, is anyone else around? I’ve got someone who doesn’t believe the name thing.”