Kayla laughed. “I forgot about that. I’ll adjust my estimated percentage to ninety.”

Maggie winced, recalling her own experience with “the streak.” “I may have caught a glimpse of said streak,” she admitted. Nirina and Kayla looked at each other and then back at Maggie. “What?” she asked.

“Oh, nothing. Just Sy never got worked up about Michelle is all,” Nirina said, smugly admiring her fingernails.

“In all their years of dating, I can’t remember them ever really fighting,” Kayla agreed.

“It’s a sign,” Nirina decided.

“You really are your brother’s sister.” Maggie laughed. “Fighting isn’t usually the sign of a solid relationship.”

“No, but caring enough to resolve conflict is,” Nirina pointed out, tugging on one of her bracelets. “Sy’s mama is a therapist, and Mama B is a romantic. Between the two of them, all of us kids were preprogrammed for healthy relationships.”

“How did you meet your husband?” Maggie asked, changing the subject.

Nirina filled her in on her secret college romance that blossomed into the early engagement that shocked her family. “People can doubt my ability to succeed because I’m adorable and happy. But that doesn’t mean that I’m not going to work my cute butt off, making my dreams come true.”

“Cheers to being underestimated,” Kayla said, raising her glass.

“Cheers,” Maggie echoed.

They stayed for another hour until Kayla started yawning. Maggie walked them to the front door.

“Girl, how are you going to walk away from this house?” Nirina asked her. “I’m already planning where to put the Christmas tree.”

“Tree?” Kayla scoffed, then yawned again. “This place needs at least six.”

“That’s true. Maggie, you’d need one on each floor of the turret. Front porch, balcony, bedroom,” Niri decided.

“And a big one in the rotunda against the stairs,” Kayla volunteered. “Then another in the dining room and a family tree wherever the gifts will go.”

“I’ll make note of that for the future owners,” Maggie said dryly.

Kayla shook her head. “Willpower and self-deprivation.”

“I sure hope whatever’s next is worth walking away from this,” Nirina mused.

As she stood on her front porch and waved off her new friends, Maggie hoped so, too.

Dayana: Any summer vacation plans this year?

23

23

Saturday morning, Silas rapped his knuckles on the wood trim of Maggie’s office doorway. She glanced up from whatever she was studying on her laptop, and he caught the way her eyes brightened when she saw it was him.

“Mornin’, darlin’,” he said, wandering into the room.