Page 25 of Keeping Score

She rolled her eyes.

“But we have to get going because we have a dinner reservation with them,” I glanced down at my watch, “now.”

Maggie let out a yelp and took off down the sidewalk to the spot where I always parked my car, her heels clicking against the pavement as she scurried along. I had to laugh when she turned around with frantic expectation on her face.

“Come on,” she beckoned, “I don’t want to be late.”

Not for the first time in my life, I chased after Maggie Brynn. Somehow, it never got old.

It wasn’t easy getting the whole Callahan gang together. We’d all ventured a long way from the tiny town in Michigan we grew up in.

Our parents were still there, but all three of my sisters had spread out to other parts of the country, because as Leah liked to say, “nothing exciting ever happens in Michigan.”

But we were still close, despite the distance. I guess that happens when you grow up in a small house where six people have to share one bathroom.

Stuff like that bonds you.

And even though my sisters had only known Maggie the past few years, they’d taken to her as if she had grown up in the sticks of Michigan right along with us.

Sometimes I think they preferred her over me, but honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

“—and I showed everyone that article of you being in Boston’s 30 Under 30,” Leah bragged, as if she were the one who had achieved it. “They couldn’t believe I have such a smart sister-in-law.”

“We have it framed in our kitchen,” Mom smiled at Maggie while Dad nodded along. “We are so proud of you.”

“It really is amazing,” Tara agreed, while Megan nodded along with her.

“If only you already had our last name, then it would be like a whole family achievement,” Leah lamented with a heavy sigh.

Maggie squirmed under everyone’s attention. She was funny like that. Being the center of attention was where she was most comfortable—except when it came to other people acknowledging how incredible she was.

I rubbed Maggie’s knee under the table.

“Great way to make it all about you, Lee,” I laughed.

“It really wasn’t that big of a deal,” Maggie said. “It’s easy to achieve that when it’s the only thing I’ve been working toward. And honestly, I couldn’t have done it without Brody.”

She gazed up at me with a shy smile.

“You cannot seriously be crediting me with this.” I shook my head in disbelief.

“I wouldn’t be able to do what I do if you weren’t taking care of everything else in our lives,” she said.

“Cooking a few meals won’t get me featured in any magazines,” I told her. “Come on, Mags. You’re a rockstar. Own it.”

She smiled, but for some reason, it was like she still couldn’t believe it. That she did it on her own.

My family was about to back me up on that, if it weren’t for the waitress coming over to take our order.

“You guys talk so funny here,” Tara scrunched her nose after the waitress left.

“Do not!” Maggie said, feigning insult.

“Uh, you do.”

I laughed when Maggie looked to me for backup.

“Sorry, babe,” I laughed, “but no one in any other part of the country says ‘cawfee.’”