To be fair, he spent most of the time engaged in conversation with his aunt and I got super busy when all seven members of the Sweeney family stopped by for brunch despite not being guests, which wasn’t uncommon, but on this particular morning was inconvenient.

It seemed like I blinked and it was noon.

Mrs. Buzzard would be staying later today to help prepare for tomorrow, along with Reggie and Lloyd, so they booted me from the kitchen. Not that I was complaining.

Another check of my phone showed no follow-up response from Arthur but I had three other texts:

One from Mom. (Loved talking with you last night! I miss you, my baby!)

One from Dad. (Let’s play a game of chess soon. Tonight?)

And, to my infinite surprise, one from Mia. (Brodys having a Xmas eve eve party 2night. A bunch of ppl r coming & you & mcarthur can come 2 if u wnt)

I wasn’t sure whether she was deliberately getting Arthur’s name wrong, but that was incidental to the invitation itself.

Which was obviously a surprise.

The answer was a quick no, we weren’t going to stop by, though I didn’t text her that response. Even if Arthur hadn’t already said he would prefer not to go, I still had plans to be with him and his aunt, whatever those might wind up being. I was kind of hoping for ice skating. More of a chance for hand-holding as a way to keep each other upright. Or maybe one of us might accidentally fall and make the other laugh then fall themselves and we’d wind up in a surprise clinch. Which never really happened, but it sure would be nice if it did.

I decided to go in search of Arthur to ask him in person, which led me down the hallway past my grandmother’s office, where I saw she was talking and smiling with Esha.

“Hey,” I said, leaning in the doorway.

They jumped. And boy, did I want to say something (“Don’t worry, I kinda already caught you two post-make-out last night so cat’s outta the bag!”). But refrained. For now.

“Hi, Finley,” Grandma Jo said, standing straighter.

I nodded to her then focused on Esha, whom I likely owed about a hundred silent apologies. “Do you know where Arthur is?”

“I believe he said he was going to the library to do some reading.”

“Thank you.” I leaned out to leave then leaned right back in. “Did he say anything to you about us all doing something together tonight?”

“He did not. But that could be because he knew we”—she gestured between herself and my grandmother—“would be having dinner tonight.”

My eyebrows went up. “Oh? Just the two of you?”

Grandma Jo nodded. “Yep.”