Voice low, she said, “Roxy is stupid. No offense,” she said to me, and I glared at her. “She thinks she’s not in love. Or she doesn’t want to be in love, and probably has no idea that he’s already willingly taken that leap, so she’s trying to protect her whittle heart.”

Avery tucked a strand of strawberry-­colored hair back behind her ear. “I’m pretty sure most of us have been there.”

“Yep,” commented Calla as she raised her glass of tea. “Been there, done that, and got the T-­shirt.”

I arched my brows at them.

“Am I the only one who went after a guy?” Teresa asked, her expression puzzled. “Because I totally knew I wanted to make sweet, sweet loving to Jase from like before day one.”

“That’s because you have lady balls,” announced Katie. “The rest of them just have ovaries.”

“Do I want to even know what you all are talking about?” Jacob asked, appearing behind Avery. He gripped the back of her chair and leaned over her.

Calla laughed. “Probably not. So how much longer till we eat?”

He glanced over at the grill. “Another five minutes, I guess? What the fuck do I know though.”

Teresa stretched her legs out in front of her, sighing as she smiled. “I’m glad we all were able to get away and hang out.”

“Yeah, this is probably going to be the last time for a while,” Avery said, smacking at Jacob as he picked up a strand of her hair and tossed it in her face.

“Why?” I asked.

“After this semester, I’m moving back here,” Calla said, a sad smile on her face as she looked at me. “You will be stuck with me, but I’m going to miss seeing Avery and Teresa.”

“With Cam’s schedule, he’s got a lot of traveling coming up. I try to go with him when I can, but it’s not always possible,” Avery said. “But we got a wedding to plan, so don’t forget that.” She grinned at Teresa. “I’m totally leaving that all up to you and Brit, by the way.”

“Fine with me. You’ll be wearing red instead of white.”

Avery rolled her eyes. “Yeah, because that will go great with my hair. Thanks.”

Jacob patted her head sympathetically.

“Weekends are going to be hard for Jase and me to get away. With his new job at the agriculture center, he’s working all week and our weekends are pretty packed right now since Jack will be staying with us during the weekends for now,” Teresa continued.

“Isn’t Jack his brother?” I asked, hoping something wasn’t going on with his parents that meant they couldn’t care for him.

“Uh . . .” Jacob straightened. “I don’t think Roxy knows, Tess.”