“I’m pretty hungry,” Max says, rubbing his hands together and raising his eyebrows.

I laugh. “You guys want to come in? My mom might be weird, just warning you.”

Max shakes his head. “No one is weirder than my mom.”

“Um, guys,” Olivia says, raising her hand. “I win that contest.”

I try to look at my house through Max’s eyes. The neat brick walkway, the blue hydrangeas lining the house like a blue ribbon. The black door that Dad painted last month. Clay’s toys cluttered around the entry along with neatly lined-up shoes.

“They take their shoes off here,” Olivia tells Max.

“Yeah, yeah, I remember,” Max says, slipping his work boots off and doing his best to line them up with the rest of the shoes.

I turn to hide my smile.

“Lulu,” Gram calls out when the front door shuts. “We’re in the kitchen.”

Mom is at the stove. “How was your ride?” She smiles wide when she catches sight of Olivia and Max. “Oh, hello there.”

“I invited Max and Olivia for dinner. Is that okay?”

“Of course,” Mom says. “Please introduce me to your friend.”

“Okay,” I say. “Mom, this is Olivia—”

“Ha ha,” Mom says with a knowing smile. “Since Olivia is here more than your dad, I think it’s safe she’s not who I’m talking about.”

Max holds out a hand. “Hello. I’m Max Rodriguez.”

“Nice to meet you, Max. Please have a seat. We’re eating in a few minutes, as soon as my husband gets home.”

We wash our hands. Olivia flicks water on Max and then me. He starts to retaliate but thinks better of it when he looks over my shoulder. “Your gram keeps staring at me,” Max whispers. “Do you think she knows what we’ve been doing?”

“No,” I assure him. I can’t tell him that Gram thinks I have a crush on him. There’s only so much humiliation I can handle in one day.

The front door slams and Clay drops his toys. “Dada, Dada,” he chants when Dad walks in. Mom introduces him to Max, and I want to die when he narrows his eyes at Max and then frowns at me. Is it too much to hope that one person in my family won’t embarrass me?

Dinner goes better than I expect. Gram is herself, and she keeps Max in the conversational loop. I stay quiet, trying to make sense of all the new things I know about my family. Things I’ve always taken for granted look different now.