“Hey.” Phillip butted a finger on the bill of the cap. “Lose something?”

“Huh?”

Phillip tapped a finger against his own straight, white teeth.

“Oh, yeah.” With a typical Quinn shrug, Seth grinned, pushing his tongue into the gap. His face was fuller than it had been six months before, and his eyes less wary. “It was loose. Had to give it a yank a couple of days ago. Bled like a son of a bitch.”

Phillip didn’t bother to sigh over Seth’s language. Some things, he determined, weren’t going to be his problem. “So, did the Tooth Fairy bring you anything?”

“Get real.”

“Hey, if you didn’t squeeze a buck out of Cam, you’re no brother of mine.”

“I got two bucks out of it. One from Cam and one from Ethan.”

Laughing, Phillip swung an arm over Seth’s shoulders and headed toward the house. “Well, you’re not getting one out of me, pal. I’m on to you. How was the first full week of school?”

“Boring.” Though it hadn’t been, Seth admitted silently. It had been exciting. All the new junk Anna had taken him shopping for. Sharp pencils, blank notebooks, pens full of ink. He’d refused the X-Files lunch box she’d wanted to get him. Only a dork carried a lunch box in middle school. But it had been really cool and tough to sneer at.

He had cool clothes and bitching sneakers. And best of all, for the first time in his life, he was in the same place, the same school, with the same people he’d left behind in June.

“Homework?” Phillip asked, raising his eyebrows as he opened the front door.

Seth rolled his eyes. “Man, don’t you ever think about anything else?”

“Kid, I live for homework. Especially when it’s yours.” Foolish burst through the door ahead of Phillip, nearly knocking him down with enthusiasm. “You’ve still got some work to do on that dog.” But the mild annoyance faded instantly. He could smell Anna’s red sauce simmering, like ambrosia on the air. “God bless us, every one,” he murmured.

“Manicotti,” Seth informed him.

“Yeah? I’ve got a Chianti I’ve been saving just for this moment.” He tossed his briefcase aside. “We’ll hit the books after dinner.”

He found his sister-in-law in the kitchen, filling pasta tubes with cheese. The sleeves of the crisp white shirt she’d worn to the office were rolled up, and a white butcher’s apron covered her navy skirt. She’d taken off her heels and tapped a bare foot to the beat of the aria she was humming. Carmen, Phillip recognized. Her wonderful mass of curling black hair was still pinned up.

With a wink at Seth, Phillip came up behind her, caught her around the waist, and pressed a noisy kiss onto the top of her head. “Run away with me. We’ll change our names. You can be Sophia and I’ll be Carlo. Let me take you to paradise where you can cook for me and me alone. None of these peasants appreciate you like I do.”