“I know it’s not mine,” Brogan said amiably.

“Now, now, I saw a young woman tip you rather handsomely last time I was in here,” Vic teased. “Maybe if you rolled up your sleeves and showed off those sailor’s biceps you have—”

“No,” Emma cut in. “Those are for me, and me only.”

“Sad. They are rather impressive,” Vic mused with a playful wink at Sophia.

“It hardly seems fair that everyone else has seen them but me,” Sophia pouted, but she snuggled a little closer to Vic, resting her head on her shoulder.

“Maybe you’ll have to stick around long enough to go sailing with us sometime,” Emma offered. “Brogan has a ‘sun’s out, guns out’ policy.”

“What’s with you Americans and your gun references?” Brogan asked.

Emma pointed across the table. “Vic has more guns than any American I know.”

“Yes, but we keep the majority of our arsenal in the armoury.”

They all stared at her as if waiting for her to realise that wasn’t exactly a logical explanation or even a thing normal people said.

“What?” she asked, and the rest of them finally fell into a fit of giggles.

God, it felt good to laugh. Not just for a second, or at a single joke, but as an extended state of mind.

Was Vic always this way with these people, or had the anger and urgency of the last two days precipitated a sort of break in her? Perhaps it was both. Sophia couldn’t help but wonder if this evening had been more than a simple date on the sly.

As Vic casually draped an arm around her shoulders, she got the sense that tonight was a coming out of sorts, or maybe something akin to introducing Sophia to her true family. She certainly understood the importance of a family of choice, at least theoretically, though she’d yet to establish one of her own. On some level that made it feel all the more important that Vic included Sophia in hers, at least for one evening.

She settled into the crook of Vic’s arm as the three locals argued good-naturedly about the best place to get scones.

“It’s got to be Warkworth,” Emma said. “I’ve done exhaustive research on the subject, and nothing has beaten them.”

“You might have an emotional attachment clouding your judgement,” Brogan said, then for Sophia’s benefit added, “That’s where I took her on one of our first dates.”

“Then where would you vote for?” Emma asked.

“I think yours are the best in town.” Brogan punctuated her answer with a quick kiss on Emma’s cheek.

Emma rolled her eyes without actually managing to seem exasperated. “You’re a terrible liar.”

“No biases there.” Vic piled on.

“Then who would you say does them best?” Brogan asked Vic.

“Your mum.”