“All from the pre-Evan days,” Mr. Novak said with a laugh.

“Not all. Some of these are from when Evan was old enough to travel,” Mrs. Novak said. “The best part of being teachers is having two months to travel every year.”

It was my first time over for dinner and I mostly stayed quiet, sitting with Jack and Lola on one end of the table, Evan on my other side. After spring break, Evan, a junior like Jae, joined our lunch table, becoming a fixture soon after. After the fish caper, as the night came to be called, he seemed taken with Elise. It bothered me, not because I felt threatened but because he reminded me of myself when I thought Elise had all the answers, when I was sure Elise was my soulmate, more sure than I’d been sure of anything my whole life. He looked at her like she was his savior, and I wondered if I had done the same.

I wondered if I was still the same Remy who desperately needed her. And if I wasn’t, what did that mean for us? I couldn’t bear the thought of not having her in my life, of losing Elise x Remy, but as I glanced at Jack, I knew we’d never be able to go back to the way things were—when Elise was the world and I was an ever-present satellite.

“So, Remy,” Jack’s aunt said. “Did you know Jack from school? The swim team maybe?”

“Um, no actually,” I said. “I don’t swim and we’ve never had any classes together.” Riverside was also huge, with a student body of almost 2,500 kids.

“We met at a friend’s house in March,” Jack said. “We kind of started talking because neither of us wanted to be there.” His aunt and uncle laughed at that.

“In any case,” his aunt continued. “It’s been good to see Jack so happy lately.”

He and I shared a soft smile. I’d been happier lately too.

“Hey, Remy,” his uncle said. “Did you know that Jack was an Olympic hopeful?”

“Really?”

“Oh my God, Uncle Dale, stop,” he said.

“We have pictures of him and Evan going back to their days in floaties.”

“Mom, ugh,” Evan said. “Stop.”

“I wouldn’t mind seeing these pictures,” I said with a sly smile.

“Do not encourage them, Remy,” Evan said. “Do not.”

“Ignore them, Remy. We’ll show you all the embarrassing photos,” his uncle said.

“Why are you like this?” Jack groaned, but he was smiling.

“We’re bored! It’s summer for us too,” his aunt said, laughing.

We spent the rest of the meal talking about school, and their plans for the rest of summer. The dinner itself wasn’t that remarkable, but that feeling stayed with me—that warmth and camaraderie from being around family who cared about you.

Even in public, my parents’ forced closeness was unconvincing, at least to me. Melody’s parents were nice, but they mostly kept to themselves and often spoke to Mel in Korean.