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“Maybe . . . coffee? And then we can just”—he shook his head once—“I dunno, talk or something?”

“Sounds perfect,” Ash agreed.

Cass nodded, but neither of them moved for several seconds. Cass actually wasn’t sure he could. Ash’s eyes had him entranced, lost in their deep blue beauty. He inhaled a long breath and then shook his head again, swallowing hard.

“What?” Ash asked, his voice barely a whisper and his smile almost teasing.

“Ah, it’s . . . it’s nothing.” Cass blinked and tightened his hands around Ash’s. “I’m just happy you’re here.”

Ash’s cheeks flushed, and he dropped his chin with a small nod. “Me too.”

“Should we go have some disappointingly mediocre coffee?” Cass said.

Ash laughed quietly and nodded again. “Yeah.”

“No way, that’s not—”

“It is.”

“Really, now? Then what does it mean? And more importantly, how the hell do you pronounce it?”

Cass snorted a laugh, then covered his mouth, a little too late to hold in the sound. “It’s, ahm”—he cleared his throat—“the larval form of some types of decapods, and—”

“Decapods?” Ash raised his eyebrows.

“Crabs.”

Ash pursed his lips and eyed Cass skeptically. “And you know this, how?”

“Years of trying to beat my mom at Scrabble,” Cass said with a shrug. “Which is funny, because it’s not really even worth that much unless you play on a Triple Word or Triple Letter space.”

“Like you so conveniently have here.”

“Indeed.”

“And it’s pronounced . . . ?”

“Well, that I’m not sure,” Cass admitted, still holding back more laughter. He pulled out his phone. “If you want, I can look it up. Zoe . . . Zoe-ay? Hmm . . .”

“Go on, I’ll wait.” With a silly grin, Ash sat back against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest.

Cass let out a dramatic sigh and unlocked his phone. “Alright, let’s see . . . Z-O-E-A-E . . .”

He turned the volume up just enough on his phone and played back the first hit on his search for how to pronounce zoeae. Ash leaned in as the computerized voice announced, “Zoeae,” pronounced like zo-ee-ee.

They both scrunched up their faces in confusion and then broke out in muffled laughter. Ash recovered first, glancing over toward the closed door to Cass’s bedroom as he shook his head.

“I hope we’re not keeping your parents up,” he said, grimacing.

Cass shook his head. “Nah, the only thing that wakes my dad up is his own snoring, and once my mom falls asleep, she usually doesn’t wake up, either.”

“I’m the opposite, unfortunately.” Ash picked up the pencil they’d been using to keep score and started tallying the points for Cass’s word.

“You don’t sleep well?” Cass asked with a frown. He scooted back a bit until he was leaning against the headboard of his bed.

Ash shrugged. “I used to. But now I don’t really anymore. Not since Bri came to live with me. She makes little noises when she sleeps. And I . . . worry.” Ash groaned. “Forty-eight points? I think. Ugh. There’s no beating you after that, especially not with the letters I have right now. I think I should forfeit. You win.”

Cass was still hung up on Ash saying he had trouble sleeping, but since Ash clearly wanted to move the conversation on to another topic, he pushed the worry to the back of his mind and straightened up. “That would be a first,” he admitted with a chuckle. “My mom was unbeatable, really. Honestly, she probably still would be. We haven’t played in a long time, though.”