Maggie found herself grinning her way through the meal as Cody ate enough food for half a high school track team and earned affectionate praise from Blaire, claiming he was saving her from packing up leftovers.

Wallace launched into a ten-minute lecture on Kinship Lodge, which had been torn down twenty years ago.

Morris and Emmett planned out a kayaking day trip, and before all was said and done, they’d invited Cody and Dean along.

It was a genuinely enjoyable meal with a family accepting of its members and outsiders. An utterly foreign concept to Maggie. She felt like an anthropologist exploring a brand-new culture.

“Let me help,” she offered, rising with her plate when they’d finished.

“Uh-uh. In this house, the testosterone does the cleanup,” Morris insisted, taking her plate.

In less than a minute, Maggie was alone at the table with the women. She smelled an ambush. At least Kevin had decided to stay with her. His big head rested on her shoe.

“You and Silas seem to be enjoying each other,” Blaire said, leaning over to top off Maggie’s wineglass.

She wasn’t picking up on any threatening language from the women, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t coming.

“You two looked like you were about to go to third base on the dance floor last night,” Mama B said with an expressive wiggle of her eyebrows.

A chorus of the Beatles’ “A Hard Day’s Night” broke out in the kitchen. She could pick out both Dean’s and Cody’s voices when they joined in.

“That’s their cleanup song,” Nirina explained.

“We’re just having fun,” Maggie told the moms, suddenly feeling both defensive and envious. This is what guys didn’t get about bringing a woman home to the parents. It said things that weren’t necessarily true. Set expectations. Made things weird. Showed girlfriends a glimpse of something they weren’t truly a part of.

No matter how old she got, Maggie had accepted that she would always have that longing to belong. To be loved easily and without question. In this moment, the need for it was so keen it took her breath away.

“There is nothing wrong with having fun, sexually or otherwise,” Blaire said firmly, letting her therapy degree show.

“Nothing at all,” Mama B agreed, refilling Niri’s water glass and trailing a hand down her daughter’s braids. They shared a look, one so full of familiarity, of love, that Maggie had to look away.

“What’s your family like?” Niri asked suddenly.

“You pretty much know,” Maggie joked, gesturing toward the kitchen where Dean was helping load the dishwasher and Cody was getting tutored in science.

“That was really wonderful what you did, taking Cody in,” Mama B told her.

“No parents?” Blaire asked.

“My mom died when I was in college,” Maggie said. “I don’t have any siblings.” Not really, at least.