I’m surprised at how little awkwardness there is. I’d expected some between Mateo and Emily. They both came out of the kitchen a while back looking secretive. I don’t know what they could be hiding. Mateo took her to Paris. It wouldn’t be the biggest leap for them to just… be together.

It would be strange, for sure. Mateo didn’t trust Emily when she made her return. He didn’t want things to be harder for Beau. But now…

No awkwardness.

Nobody’s in any hurry to leave, either. I didn’t attend many birthday parties growing up in Houston, but when I did, they were a rushed madhouse. Nobody’s mother seemed very happy to be hosting. Somehow, there was never enough food for the guests. Or maybe I just remember it that way.

This party’s different. It’s far closer to the parties I imagined for the nice families. The ones with money, and spare time. The ones who weren’t hurrying to get it over with so they could work a night shift at the hospital or the factory.

The four of us and Paige make a nice family. I don’t know how to classify what Beau and I are to Paige now. Technically, he’s her uncle, but since we’re not married, I’m just the former nanny.

But out here, gathered near Emily’s patio, the labels don’t seem to matter much at all. They’re just not very accurate. “Paige’s uncle” doesn’t encompass the fact that Beau was her only parent for months. It doesn’t encompass the way we live right next door to them. The way she goes between houses like she knows she belongs in both.

Family is the only word we have.

“Do you have enough marshmallows?” Emily asks. She’s just come out from the kitchen with graham crackers and a package of Hershey bars.

“We can only roast one at a time,” says Beau. “I think we’re covered unless you want to put twenty on a stick and do them all at once.” Mateo starts to get up. “Oh, sit down. It was a joke.”

Mateo sits back in his seat with a grin, but his eyes go to Emily. They follow her as she takes the seat next to me. It’s hard to tell through the curls of heat in the air, but I think his hand tightens on the neck of his beer bottle. Like he wants to be touching her.

“I bet Paige is going to crash tonight,” Emily murmurs to me. “She has to be getting so tired.”

“It’s been a good party. Non-stop action. And the cake was beautiful.”