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Time to consult the ultimate authority: Google. A quick search showed that the bakery was owned by the Kanelos family, which sounded vaguely familiar. Hadn’t she gone to school with a Theo Kanelos? They clearly hadn’t been friends, not if she didn’t remember him for sure, but a quick search on social media wouldn’t hurt. She didn’t follow him, and he didn’t follow her, and the account was private, so she couldn’t see much more than a small out-of-focus picture of what appeared to be Theo on top of a very tall mountain.

They did have a few friends in common. Some high school classmates she hadn’t talked to in years…

…and one person she had.

8

It was embarrassing but also probably time to admit it: Leo’s sixty-year-old mother was undeniably much cooler than he was. He came to this realization upon receiving a flurry of texts from her “on holiday” (as she now referred to it) on an obscure Greek island with her boyfriend, or as she liked to refer to him, her life partner.

The first couple were simply pictures of the land and the sea—sparkling white sand, aqua water Leo could tell by sight was the temperature of a warm bath, craggy hills covered in ancient trees and goats. He managed to tamp down his jealousy. Then the next one dropped his jaw because it was his mom and her life partner beaming in between two of the most famous faces on the planet, a singer whose new Christmas song was currently playing from every speaker everywhere and her boyfriend, a famous athlete. As if that weren’t enough, the final two were snaps of them all partying on a yacht bigger than Leo’s dad’s house, champagne toasts raised toward a sky full of stars.

The only words his mom texted with them were This champagne cost more per bottle than my car but honestly I couldn’t tell the difference between it and the kind I used to get at the supermarket LOL

How was he even supposed to respond to that? He settled for ??????????

Oh, right, she texted back. It’s a pretty funny story actually! We ran into each other on a nude beach and she was shy about the nude part, so I gave her a pep talk and told her that if I can let these babies hang low she should appreciate hers while they’re high LOL. Leo had not needed quite that much detail, but okay. I didn’t realize who she was until somebody came over to take a picture of her and she told me that was why she didn’t want to take her top off, but we were getting along so well by that point she invited me and Giorgio on her boat. It’s very nice though the bathrooms are small. If she was single I would try to set her up with you! I showed her some pictures of you and she agreed that you were very handsome.

Oh, god. Leo snorted, setting his phone down on the kitchen table next to his sandwich before he could respond. “I’m glad someone is having a good holiday,” he said to Neptune, who was perched on one of his feet beneath the table, the very picture of a vigilant good boy. Though Leo knew perfectly well the only thing the beagle was vigilant for was any piece of deli turkey that fell off his plate.

“Who’s having a good holiday?” asked his dad, taking a seat across from him at the table. Though it had been several months since Leo resolved to change things, he still had to fight the instinct to make an excuse and get up from the table.

Today, Leo would not. He would tell his dad the truth. They usually avoided saying anything about his mom or their marriage or, god forbid, the divorce, but Leo thought his dad deserved to hear how great his mom’s life was now. So he told his dad who his mom had met and that she was currently partying on a mansion-size yacht off the Aegean Coast with some of the world’s most famous figures. His dad’s eyebrows rose higher and higher the more Leo told him, finally hovering so high they nearly touched his receding hairline. “Wow,” he said when Leo took a break. Leo assumed he thought he was done. “How exciting.”

An awkward silence settled on the table, as smothering as a blanket. Of course, his dad hurried to change the subject. “How about that Knicks game, huh? They really bungled it at the end.”

Leo had agreed, but as usual, he automatically took the opposite side. “I don’t think that’s fair. They had a lot to contend with that day.”

They argued back and forth for a while as Leo took bite after bite of his turkey sandwich, his heart not really in it; he could tell his dad’s heart wasn’t really in it, either. Was this what their relationship would be now? Talking about light, surface-level things while all the resentment continued to simmer underneath?

Leo supposed it was better than the active avoidance their relationship had been before, but it still wasn’t great. Yet now he had a path forward. Eventually he’d graduate, and he’d get a job, hopefully with the same studio he was at now, and he’d finally make enough to move out, and then he’d see his dad on holidays and for the occasional baseball game or whatever.

He didn’t know why the thought made him sad, so he fed Neptune a small piece of turkey. The beagle gobbled it up. At least one creature in this room could be happy.

His dad cleared his throat. “Ah, er…are you dating at all?”

An unwelcome subject change. Leo forced a smile. “Not really. Kind of hard to date while living at home.” That awkward silence settled back between them. Leo could say something more, something serious and real, maybe talk about how he felt insecure trying to match with someone on a dating app and not being able to bring them home. Or that every time one of his classmates convinced him to install a new app (there seemed to be a new one every week, sprouting up like mushrooms after the rain), he’d swipe half-heartedly because all the girls looked perfectly nice, but none of them were Shira, and it was awfully pathetic to be hung up on her still, wasn’t it? Had his dad ever been in a similar situation?

His dad cleared his throat again, and the moment was lost. “Ah, yeah. It’s okay with me, though, you know.” Yeah, that was just what Leo wanted: for some girl he’d just met to be here at the table with them, sweating through this uncomfortable conversation.

It wasn’t all on Leo. His dad could push deeper, too. Maybe that was why Leo never wanted to, because the fact that his dad never pushed made it clear he didn’t want to. That he was happy, or at least content, like this.

Before Leo could think about it too deeply, his phone buzzed. He grabbed for it with a sense of relief, not even caring if it was a spam text trying to trick him into sending money to someone in Pakistan for tolls he didn’t owe.

But it wasn’t a scammer. It was Shira. “So much for not dating,” his dad said wisely, or in a way he thought was wise, at least. “That’s definitely a girl you like.”

Leo’s cheeks warmed. He was glad for his olive skin tone; it wouldn’t betray him with a blush. “It’s just Shira. From down the street.”

“I know Shira,” his dad said. “The party’s tonight, right? You’re coming?”

“Of course,” Leo said. He turned his attention to his phone. She was calling, not texting. Which took him by surprise. People didn’t really do that anymore. “Hello?”

Shira was afraid he’d be busy, but Leo picked up on the third ring. “Oh yeah, Theo Kanelos,” he said into her ear, and her whole body went slack with relief. “He was my buddy back in elementary school. We did soccer together. I was better.”

“Oh, thank god.” Shira sagged against the wall of the living room and wicked some sweat from her forehead. “So you can get us into his family’s bakery, I assume?”

“Sure,” he said. “Right now?”

“If you’re free,” she said, her whole body clenching with thanks for her old friend. “Thank you. I really, really appreciate it.”