“What kind of bullshit is that?” I shake my head. “If I liked a girl, I tried to kiss her, not hit her.”

“Also boundary crossing, Z,” Charlotte says. “But an improvement.”

I snort and laugh. “Baby steps.”

“Is there a Jimmy we need to hunt down and kill?” Murphy asks.

Charlotte laughs. “Oh my god, no. Well, probably. I did hear lots of ginger jokes when I was a kid. But seriously, I have a case where I just want to strangle the mother for filling her daughter’s head with that patriarchal nonsense.”

Murphy and I sort of stare at her.

“Yeah, yeah, my life is a study in contradictions.” She waves her hand in the air. “You know what I mean. There’s a difference between men who lead and men who squash.”

I know which one I want to be.

Lilly steps out of the pool with Chance. He seems a bit overwhelmed and not sure where to go first. Finally, he spies me and races over, landing with a wet thump against my leg. I reach down and rub my hand over his wet head. “Have fun?”

“Yeth!” He bounces up on his toes and I angle my leg to keep him away from the grill. “Careful.”

Lilly reaches for him, capturing his hand and picking him up. “Oh my god, you’re so heavy.”

I hand the spatula to Murphy. “Here, I’ll take him.”

“No, he’s fine,” she protests, but Chance is already reaching for me.

“Oh, yeah. You’re drenched.” I glance down at my T-shirt. “I wasn’t planning to go in the pool until much later.”

Murphy scratches his beard. “Is that what those noises are we keep hearing at night?”

Lilly sputters. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He leans over and casually flips a few burgers. “Heidi thought it was dolphins mating, but I don’t think we have those around here.”

“Dolphins.” Lilly snorts. “More like a bear—”

“That’s what I said,” Murphy interrupts. He waves the spatula in my direction. “Now bears make sense. They’re massive, violent, territorial, and,” he lowers his voice, “they eff a lot. Very noisy too.”

Lilly doubles over laughing, which makes Chance laugh even though I don’t think he followed a word of that.

“Thanks for the bizarre nature lesson, weirdo.” I shift Chance to one arm and snatch the spatula out of Murphy’s hand. “Get away from my grill.”

He walks off. “Heidi, I solved the mystery of the dolphins we’ve been hearing,” he yells across the yard.

“Asshole,” I mutter.

Lilly steps closer and slides her arms around us. “He has a point.” She bats her lashes.