Luke set his beside mine, but he was taking in the apartment. “Man, this place hasn’t changed at all. That same old wallpaper. But the plants … holy shit, Tess. It’s a jungle in here.”

I chuckled. “They were Mom’s.”

“Can’t get her to even prune them,” Dad said, wheeling into the room with a smile on his face. “Hello, son. How are you?”

When he got close enough, he stopped, extending a callused hand. Luke took it, the knot of their square hands pumping.

“I’m good, sir. And you?”

“Little hungry. No chance there’s a hamburger somewhere in that bundle of flowers, is there?”

I gave him a look. “Did you forget to eat again?”

He shrugged, looking cowed. “I was in the middle of the commissioned officers, and I couldn’t quit until I finished. Couldn’t very well leave the beach on Normandy without its leaders, could I?”

I kissed him on the forehead and made for the oven to set the temp. “I left dinner in the fridge. All you had to do was put it in the oven.”

“You always take care of me, Pigeon.”

Once I had the fridge open and my hands were full of casserole, I kicked the door closed with a thump.

Luke leaned in as I pulled off the foil, wetting his lips. “What is it?”

“You can’t be hungry. You just ate almost an entire pizza.”

“What?” he asked innocently. “My mother says I’m a growing boy, Tess.”

I laughed. “This, Luke Bennet, is Betsy’s Super Tuna Noodle Saproodle.”

Dad groaned hungrily. “If I’d known that, I wouldn’t have made a meal off pistachios.”

“Well, you have twenty minutes to work up your appetite.”

“You’re welcome to join me, Luke. We’ll be eating off that casserole for two days, easy,” Dad said.

“I’d love to,” Luke answered with a smile that made my heart do a loop-dee-loop. “I was just telling Tess I can’t believe this place hasn’t changed at all. That’s the same couch we used to play Mario Kart on.”

“Still have it,” I said. “Play you after dinner.”

“You mean, you’ll lose to me after dinner,” Luke corrected.

A laugh burst out of me. “You never could beat me, and I know you’ve got to be rusty. Dad and I play at least three times a week.”

“And she can’t beat me,” Dad added. “So I’ll beat you both after dinner.”

Luke and I locked eyes, spitting out, “Dibs on Donkey Kong,” at the same time.

Then we were all laughing.

Luke looked around the room, scanning everything with the gears in his head whirring. “You know, it wouldn’t take much to get this place out of the nineties. Eighties?”

“It was Betsy’s mom’s before we lived here. A lot of this was nostalgic. I think that wallpaper and the curtains are from the seventies. All recent decades are represented.” Dad smiled fondly, looking around the room. “I’ve thought about remodeling forever, but I wouldn’t even know where to start.”