“So much for keeping it a secret,” she murmured.
“We’ll never hear the end of it,” I said.
Kate passed mismatched glasses of her margarita mixture around (fresh beet juice, lime, ginger, agave, tequila—though no tequila for me) and held it in the air.
“To the newest Harvey,” Dad said, and everyone cheered.
Barry smiled over the rim of his glass at me while he drank.
The next few hours before dinner weren’t as embarrassing as I’d feared they’d be. Everyone settled down from the impromptu announcement relatively quickly. Dad had to check the meat, Mom had another whole casserole to prepare. Jeremy set up the puzzle table and we got to work on the action movie one while Barry was stuck talking to Ron and Mom.
Ron was a gentle man. He never had any kids with his late wife, but he acted immediately like we were his own children, always there for advice, or slipping us five-dollar bills on our way out—for Slushies, he’d say. He asked Barry about benefits in the league, his 401K, the sort of investments he was interested in, and had he done much with crypto? Dad was in and out of the house, joining their conversations with quips about the economy or whatever else he’d heard on the news that morning. They were all very interested in Barry’s private life: how many siblings he had, if he wanted to play for Utah until retirement, if he was seeing anyone.
He wasn’t.
“Props to him for keeping up with the inquisition,” Jeremysaid. Kate and I hummed in agreement as we worked on finishing the edges of the puzzle. “Where’syourdate, Katie?”
“He’s not my date,” I said. And then, after a moment, to Kate, “What date?”
“No date.” Kate fit the last edge into place and reached for a pile of the same color pieces. “Jeremy doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”
“Yes, I do,” Jeremy said. “Katie has been going out with my physics professor?—”
Jeremy cut off with a wince, no doubt induced by a sharp kick from Kate under the table. I looked between the two of them, trying to see if he was lying. This was the first I was hearing of Kate doing any dating at all, no less a physics professor.
“You think Jeremy is smart enough to take a physics class?” Kate asked.
“It’s a general I put off,” he defended. “He’s young and cool.”
Kate didn’t say anything, just kept sorting pieces.
“She would have told me,” I said, but Kate was blushing. I could see the pink crawling up her neck.
“I saw them at Frontier together last week,” Jeremy said. But surely Kate wasn’t going to our favorite restaurant with hot, cool science professors without telling me? Kate texted me when she saw a funny bird, she barely left her house, I would have known.
“I’m not seeing anyone.” Kate fit together another piece.
Jeremy gasped and leaned on his elbows. “Stop lying.”
“Oh my God,” I said. “You are.”
Kate sighed and finally looked up. In the kitchen, I heard Mom laugh at something Barry said, but I didn’t know what.
“I’m not seeing him,” Kate said. “It was one date.”
“Ha!” Jeremy was moments away from another “I was right” chant, but Kate and I cut him off with a glare. The moment of unity did nothing to quell the betrayal.
“When?”
“Last Sunday,” Jeremy said.
“Sunday?”
Kate had been on a date, probably shared a damn cinnamon roll with him, aprofessor, almost a week ago and hadn’t mentioned it once?
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Kate threw her hands up in the air.
