They just wait.
CHAPTER 12
ETHAN- FOURTH OF JULY WEEKEND
Tony calledon a random Tuesday while I was buried in decks and timelines and pretending to care about a budget meeting.
“Alright,” he said, no hello, “you’ve officially disappeared.”
“I’ve been busy,” I said.
“Yeah. Busy being domesticated. Fourth of July’s coming up, man. Summer’s gonna be gone before we know it. We’re doing something epic this year.”
I half smiled. “Like what, the Cape again?”
“Forget the Cape,” he said. “We’re going big. The Hamptons. Westhampton. My cousin’s uncle’s place. Huge house. Deck, beach access, the works.”
I sat up.
“The Hamptons?”
“Yep.”
Just hearing it unlocked something old in my chest—college summers, too many beers, all of us crammed into one house like nothing in life mattered yet.
“We haven’t had the whole crew together in forever,” Tony went on. “Beth, Chris, Dan, Mark. Everybody. No flakes. No plus-ones we don’t like. Just us. One last blowout before we’re all too old and boring.”
I stared at my calendar.
He wasn’t wrong.
Somewhere along the way, my world had narrowed to work and Sage. Couple dinners. Couple weekends. Couple everything.
I couldn’t remember the last time it was just the guys.
“I’m in,” I said automatically.
Then I winced.
“…I just have to talk to Sage.”
Tony went quiet.
“That bad, huh?”
“She doesn’t love group trips,” I said carefully. “She gets jealous. Day drinking makes it worse.”
“We’ve all seen it,” he said. “Dude… it’s been three months. You shouldn’t need permission.”
“I’m in love,” I said.
Even to me, it sounded defensive.
Tony sighed. “Fine. Make it couples. Beth’s bringing that firefighter guy. Less chaos. But you better show up. We miss you.”
That landed harder than anything else.
We miss you.
