The siblings exchanged a look.
“Asher started it,” Jude offered.
Asher, the oldest, raised both hands. “I started the pool. I did not set the terms. The terms evolved organically.”
“Organically,” Levi repeated flatly.
“You were in seventh grade,” Asher said. “And you looked at her like that—” He waved a hand in front of Levi’s face. “You’vebeen looking at her likethatever since. Some things you just know are gonna happen.”
I felt the heat climb my neck and chose to focus very carefully on the dish towel still draped over Dahlia’s shoulder.
“So the bet,” I said, because apparently I was committed to this now, “has been running for?—?”
“Well, the original pool technically had to be reset twice,” Rose said, showing me her phone with the efficiency of someone who had been documenting this for years. “Once, when you two lost touch completely for a few months. Once when Travis came back into the picture—again.” A brief, pointed pause. “That restart had a lot of opinions attached to it.”
“A lot of strongly-worded opinions,” Lily confirmed.
“I had this month,” Violet said. “Ofthisyear. I want that noted.”
“This month isn’t over,” Jude said.
“It is for our purposes because she’s wearing the ring.” Violet looked at my hand with the satisfied expression of someone who had invested wisely and was watching the returns come in. “I want it noted.”
The argument about the terms and conditions of the Barrett family engagement pool continued around me—warm, ridiculous, and deeply affectionate. Cade lobbied for a technicality while Jude cheerfully refused to grant one. Lily and Holly whispered rapidly in a sidebar as Asher held his ground. I stood in the middle of it all, Levi’s hand warm at my back, thinking this is what it sounds like when a family roots for you out loud, for years, with a documented spreadsheet. I had not known how much I needed something like this in my life until exactly this moment.
The argument came to its natural conclusion at the dinner table, which is to say it didn’t conclude at all but was temporarily tabled in favor of pot roast and mashed potatoes.
I found myself sandwiched between Levi and Jude. The conversation flowed in typical Barrett fashion—fast, layered, with a dozen threads running at once—and I slipped into it more easily than I expected. I had known these people for years, even if only at the edges. The difference now was that no one treated me like a guest.
Somewhere between passing the bread and Cade successfully arguing for a redo on grounds of ambiguous documentation, Rosemary set down her fork. She had clearly been listening to everything.
“You’ve been part of this family for a long time, Becca,” she said.
“Oh…” I replied. My heart pounding hard in my chest.
“I had the fifteenth of this month.” She reached into the front pocket of her cardigan, pulled out a small, creased piece of paper, and laid it on the table beside her plate. “Of this year. That’s tomorrow. As you can see, I’m clearly the winner.”
The table erupted.
“Gram—”
“That’s a future date?—”
“The engagement happened before the fifteenth?—”
“The ring is on the finger,” Rosemary said serenely. “The engagement is official. The fifteenth is the nearest eligible date. I win.” She refolded the paper with finality and slipped it back into her pocket. “I’ve had this one locked in for quite some time. I was simply waiting for you two to cooperate.”
“She’s right.” Rose held her phone up. “Gram wins. She’s the closest.”
Levi pressed his lips together, clearly fighting a laugh.
I didn’t bother fighting mine. I laughed, full and loud and surprised, and the sound carried over the noise of the table. Dahlia smiled across at me as if that was exactly the sound this house needed.
After dinner, while the children were rounded up for cleanup and car rides home, I slipped out to the back porch. The night air felt cool and carried the sharp scent of pine, with the faint rush of the river audible beyond the trees.
The door opened behind me. Levi stepped out and came to stand beside me, shoulder to shoulder, both of us looking out into the dark.
“Too much?” he asked.
