“Please do. Mom would be ecstatic,” Will says. “She’s got this new man who’s kind of a tool, but he makes her happy, so who cares, right?”

I chuckle. He’s a good one.

To our left, someone shrieks as they move through the photo album. I must take that thing away from them at some point tonight and burn it.

“So, new girl, huh?” Will whispers.

I shake my head, no matter how much sometimes I wish I could nod. “Nah. She’s a…friend.”

“Sure thing,” he says, grinning. “As if I’ve never seen that kind of face before.”

My brows furrow. I don’t remember ever feeling that way when looking at Amber, but maybe I did look like this and I just didn’t notice.

But that’s not what he meant.

“Every time someone takes a pic of me looking at Violet, I have that same stupid expression,” he says, eyes on his wife, and I can’t deny it. He does look lovesick, even more so than when I first saw them together at eight years old, when I’d gone to spend a few days at the beach house that their families owned in Southern Maine.

“I don’t look at her like that,” I say, voice filled with less conviction than I’d hoped.

“Oh, buddy,” Will says as he turns to me and shakes his head. Then he claps my back again, as if in consolation. For what, I don’t know.

“Mamá,” Callie says in a loud voice, bringing my attention back to the girls, “isn’t that the time Aaron got sick everywhere after Halloween?” She’s pointing at a picture of me dressed up as a zombie, maybe fifteen or sixteen years old.

“Uh-huh.” Ma side-eyes me. “Someone had just discovered the wonders of alcohol and had no control over himself.”

Will laughs sharply as I grab the glass of water I left in the living room earlier and take a big gulp, hiding my face. Yeah, that wasn’t my brightest hour. Ma had torn me a new one.

Still looking down, Wren mutters, “I guess he didn’t learn his lesson.”

Water spills out of my mouth in a jet spontaneously. Jesus. I wasn’t expecting that.

In a second, Callie’s laughter fills the room, loud and clear and so intense, it becomes contagious. This kid still laughs at the stupidest things. Including when her big brother makes a mess.

Wren grins, not hidden one bit this time.

“Your brother’s really classy, huh?” she asks Callie, but her eyes are on me. Fighting a laugh, I give her an annoyed look. Meanwhile, Callie only laughs harder, which makes Ma and Violet join too.