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“Yes. Ugh. Chad.”

Ash could almost hear her rolling her eyes, and he laughed again. She went on in great detail, describing what honestly sounded like the date from hell—not that Ash would really know—and he listened as he picked up where he’d left off a bit ago, clearing the dirty dishes from the coffee table. By the time she was done, he’d cleaned all the messes and nearly finished unloading the dishwasher.

He paused after setting the last of Bri’s sippy cups in the cupboard, and he turned around to rest his back on the counter and closed his eyes.

“I think I’m gonna head to bed,” he said. He was exhausted, and he had a lot to think about. And maybe he had a text to send. To Cass.

It was late, though; he should probably do that in the morning. After he spent some more time thinking.

“Yeah, me too.” Shaina sighed. “I love you, Ash.”

“Love you, too, Shai.” He pushed away from the counter and started toward the bedroom, flipping off the kitchen lights. “Tell your parents I said hi.”

Shaina laughed quietly. “Sure, but you know Mom’s going to ask if you’re coming down for Thanksgiving.”

“I know.”

“Are you?”

Ash sighed and paused in front of his bedroom door. “I don’t know,” he said, keeping his voice low to avoid waking Bri. “It’s so expensive to fly around the holidays. And I might be really busy with school. But I’ll try to figure it out soon. Just let me get classes started and see how things are going, at least.”

“Yeah, of course.”

He smiled. “Good night, Shai. Thank you for calling.”

“Anytime. Night.”

He held the phone to his ear for another few seconds before lowering it and stuffing it in his pocket. Then he took a deep breath, switched off the lights in the hallway, and tiptoed into the bedroom and over to the dresser to find some pajamas to change into. He glanced at Bri’s crib and could just make out the outline of her face from the dim light peeking in through the closed shutters. She was sleeping peacefully.

She was healthy and happy. Perfectly happy.

Tears stung at his eyes, and he quickly dug a pair of pajama pants and an old T-shirt out of the top drawer of his dresser and then turned and hurried back out of the room to shower and get ready for bed.

Bri really was perfectly happy.

And maybe Shaina was right. Maybe he deserved to be happy, too.

Brendan (Wednesday, September 21, 2022 – 7:04 a.m.): Hey Joe said you’re up in Seattle for a school thing. Thanks for telling me. Thought I was your best friend =P

Brendan (7:05 a.m.): When you get back, wanna hang out? Laurie’s out of town this weekend

Chapter Twenty-Four

Cass

“It wasn’t a date, ma,” Cass grumbled, his phone balanced between his shoulder and ear as he packed the last of his toiletries back into his overnight bag.

His mom laughed lightly, the wonderful sound bringing a smile to his lips.

“Well, whatever it was,” she said, her voice slow but clear and steady, “I’m glad you had a good time. Ash seems like a nice man.”

“He is.” Cass closed his eyes. “He’s a good friend. But that’s all. Really.”

Even though that was technically true, Cass’s heart betrayed every word he said, stumbling and stuttering as a crisp, clear image of Ash’s gorgeous blue eyes and gentle smile flitted through his mind. He let out a soft breath, barely a whisper of a sigh, hoping his mom didn’t hear it.

She must have, though, because he heard another light laugh, and then she said in a teasing tone, “Sure, dear, whatever you have to tell yourself.”

He snorted a laugh and collapsed onto the bed on his back. “Was that a joke, ma? Because it sounded like a joke.”