“That picture of you and Teagan was in the paper,” Lilly says. “Are you gonna get married?”

Ethan chokes on his coffee, and Nic says, “Lill.”

“They’re just friends, sweetie,” Shay says. “Uncle Carter isn’t nearly cute enough for a girl as smart and cool as Teagan.”

“True story.” I nod. “I’m lucky she even danced with me.”

“But my friend Jasper said his mom was there, and she said you and Teagan are having a secret love relationship,” Lilly says.

“We’re not,” I say gently.

“But she showed him a video of you on the stage and said you kissed Teagan in front of everyone. With slobber.”

“Eww! Slobber!” Noah says, wrinkling his nose.

Ethan frowns at his daughter. “When did you see Jasper?”

“He texted me this morning,” she says.

Red creeps up Ethan’s neck. “You’re exchanging texts with a boy? You talked about kissing and slobber?”

“Um, yeah, I’m eight.”

“That phone is a privilege, Lilly. If—”

“We can talk about it later.” Nic puts her hand on top of Ethan’s and squeezes until he looks at her. I can practically see his horror receding as he meets his wife’s eyes. Lilly’s lucky Nic came along. If it weren’t for Nic, Ethan might have put Lilly in a bubble by now.

“I’m more curious about what happened when everyone wasn’t looking,” Levi says, only to be elbowed by Ellie again. “What?”

“Seriously?” she says.

“Everyone’s thinking it.”

Ellie shakes her head. “That doesn’t make it okay to say out loud.”

Molly clears her throat. “I took Teagan home last night. If that, uh, clears up any questions.”

Levi shakes his head at me, truly distraught. “You are such a shitty closer.”

“Language!” Noah says, and Lilly gives him a nod of approval.

Jake shoots me a look. He’s at the bar enough to know my old reputation doesn’t hold true. I used to be incredibly picky about who I’d take home. I used to be more interested in a relationship than an evening of fun. But since Max died, my female friends have been my favorite escape from the hellish churn of memories that wait for me in the quiet moments. I’m still selective and want nothing to do with women who hold me up as some sort of idol, but I “close” just fine. Not with Teagan, but maybe that’s for the best.

“What’s a closer?” Lilly asks.

Ethan chokes on his coffee again, and I cringe.

“Yeah, Uncle Levi,” Shay says, propping her chin on her hands. “What’s a closer?”

Ethan scowls at our youngest brother, daring him to say something inappropriate to his daughter.

Levi keeps a completely straight face as he looks Lilly in the eye and says, “It’s the person who cleans up the bar and locks up at the end of the night. And if they do a bad job, it makes more work for whoever opens the next day.”

“Oh.” Lilly nods, as if this makes sense, but after a beat, she frowns. “But what does that have to do with where Aunt Teagan slept last night?”