“Gem brings it up the most,” Willow countered, and Rusty pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Yeah Wil, I… I know.”
“We should put something on the books. Get reconnected,” Glyma said definitively. “Hopefully before Quin gets too pregnant to move around.”
“Everyone could come to my house,” Cya offered before they could think too hard about it and sack out.
Three pairs of shocked eyes landed on them, and they instinctively spun their gold bracelet around their wrist to give their hands something to do.
“Really?” Glyma asked.
Cya nodded. “Yes, well, my parents are on holiday for… a while. So I have a big empty house, and there’s a pool in the back, in case it’s nice weather. There’s lots of space for games or swimming or whatever.”
“In Pride?” Rusty asked, though it sounded more like he was pointing out a shortcoming than he was asking for clarification.
“I understand if it’s not a convenient location.” They lowered their eyes to the counter. “I just thought—”
“That would be wonderful, Cya,” Glyma said, and they jerked their head up in surprise.
“How sweet of you to offer,” Willow said with a knowing smile, like she could sense Cya’s insecurity. As a Dryad, she probably could.
“Gem and Toni do love to swim,” Rusty said.
Pleasure replaced the nerves, and Cya stood a little straighter. “Well, you’re all most welcome.”
It was decided that everyone would come to Cya’s house on Sunday. The cafe was closed, so Glyma and Quin could freely attend, and the weather forecast called for clear skies and dry heat. Hemersyn ensured the pool was thoroughly cleaned and prepped for swimming, and at Cya’s request, he arranged the rental of extra patio furniture and comfortable lounge chairs.
Dex asked if he could bring Jasmyn and his mother along, and even though Cya was nervous to meet Mrs. Triever, they’d agreed. They didn’t want Dex to have to choose between seeing his mother—when he so rarely did, given their conflicting schedules—and coming to the pool party.
“Are you sure you want your sister tagging along?”
“Yeah, Jas is cool. She’s pretty much my best friend,” he said, voice crackling through Cya’s phone speaker.
“Your best friend is a thirteen-year-old?” they teased, making him blow a raspberry.
“Um, your best friend is your fifty-year-old butler, so you have no room to judge.”
They glanced at their phone lying on the bed beside them. “Touché.”
Since Cya had only ever hosted parties for rich snobs, they’d enlisted the Lupyn’s help in planning the menu and entertainment, and Dex was taking the responsibility very seriously.
“Don’t hire musicians, by the way.”
They paused their pen halfway through the wordcellist. “Why? Then it will be quiet and awkward.”
“Um, think about the people coming to this shindig. You really think awkward silences are what you need to worry about?”
Well, Dex had them there.
“Okay, but isn’t music still a nice touch?”
“Just have a Bluetooth speaker play one of your playlists.” Dex paused. “Actually, you probably listen to boring classical music or something. I’ll connect my phone and we’ll listen to one of my playlists. I have so many good ones.”
“Classical music isn’t boring, and I have broader tastes in music than just that,” they snipped. “But fine, you can be in charge of the playlist.”
“Shweet.”
He grunted, and Cya frowned down at their phone. “What are you doing?”
