As the crowd began to thin, I finally did what I’d been aching to do all afternoon and lifted her into my arms. She wrapped her legs around my hips and kissed me until someone cleared their throat behind me.

Nova lifted her head and sighed heavily before unwrapping her legs from around me and dropping to her feet. I turned to find her dad standing a few feet away with her mom, both of them grinning. Felicity handed her a bouquet of flowers and a cute little brown teddy bear.

“Congratulations, princess,” Jet said, enveloping his only daughter in a tight hug. “We’re so proud of you.”

“Thanks, Dad,” she murmured softly.

“I know you have plans with everyone tonight,” Felicity said with a sniffle. “But we would like to have a huge family breakfast in the morning before you leave.”

“That would be perfect, Mom,” Nova assured her with a loving smile. “Are you two all packed for your trip to Mexico?”

“You would think we were going for a year and not two weeks,” her dad grumbled, his lips twitching as he fought a grin. “But yeah, we’re all packed. Our flight isn’t until tomorrow evening, so we have plenty of time to spend with you in the morning.”

Nova’s fingers laced through mine, tugging me closer. I tucked her against my side and listened to the three Hannigans talking about the trip to Mexico and Nova’s summer plans before she started NYU in the fall. There was no wedding talk, however, and that put me on edge. Why weren’t they talking about her parents coming to New York so Felicity could go with her daughter to buy a wedding dress?

Noticing I’d been quiet during their conversation, Nova looked up at me with concern. This was a special day for her, so I pushed the whole thing to the back of my mind for the moment and dropped a kiss on top of her head. “Are you hungry?”

“I could eat,” she said with a smile.

“I’m starving!” Ciana complained as she joined our group. Dressed in a long, flowy skirt and matching top, she was dressed cooler than she had been the day before, yet the entire outfit looked huge on her, almost as if the clothes were wearing her and not the other way around. If she hadn’t been so hungry lately, I would have been worried that she was losing weight from how big her clothes were on her.

“You kids go on,” Felicity urged. “Have fun, but remember our breakfast plans.”

“See you in the morning,” Nova called after them as they walked toward the parking lot.

Samara skipped over to us, her long dark hair swinging back and forth over her shoulders as she grabbed Nova’s hands and started dancing around with her. “What do you want to eat? I could definitely go for some fries.”

“Yes!” Ciana exclaimed excitedly, licking her lips. “With chili and cheese and loads of jalapeños.”