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Lachlin walks away like his work here is finished.

Jack lets out another irritated sound, so I adjust him higher against my chest and start moving before he can build momentum, and after a couple slow laps around the patio I start humming. Jack’s fussing eases almost at once.

From the table, Lachlin points at me. “See?”

I ignore him.

A few minutes later Jack is quiet, cheek pressed against my shirt, his small hand curled near my collarbone.

When I turn, Ruby is watching me.

She isn’t laughing or teasing me. Her expression softens when our eyes meet, and something about the way she looks at me with Jack tucked against my chest makes me want to stay right where I am for a while.

I keep pacing until his breathing evens out and his weight settles heavier against me.

By six, everyone starts packing up leftovers and figuring out evening plans. Sloane mentions that she’s heading to Saturday Night Arts Alive in Old Town, and Ruby looks interested before she even finishes explaining what’s happening.

“I’ve been wanting to go,” Ruby says.

“Come with me.”

Ruby glances at me before she answers, and Sloane catches it.

“You too,” she says, pointing at me.

I look at Ruby. “You want me there?”

She smiles. “Yeah.”

“Then I’m in.”

Ruby and I head home long enough to change. She disappears into her side of the duplex while I shower, and twenty minutes later I’m standing in my living room looking for my phone.

I check the kitchen counter, the couch, my bedroom, then the bathroom, even though I have no reason to believe I carried it in there.

There’s a knock at the door.

Conlin is standing on the porch when I open it, holding up my phone.

“Looking for this?”

I take it from him. “For the last ten minutes.”

“Mom found it on the kitchen counter after you left.”

“That explains why it wasn’t here.”

Conlin gives me a look. “Glad I could solve the mystery.”

Ruby steps out onto her porch next door, pulling on a dark jacket over a fitted black top. Silver catches at her ears and around her fingers when she tucks her hair back.

Conlin looks between us. “Where are you going?”

“Arts Alive,” Ruby says. “Sloane invited us.”

His expression says galleries were not part of his Saturday plans.

Ruby tips her head toward his truck. “Come with us.”