Page 109 of Smoke and Glitter

"You're dead to me," Summer mutters as she takes my bag.

I'm still laughing when Colt appears from the kitchen. He hugs me with one arm, careful of the drink in his other hand, then steps back to look at me.

"Good to have you home."

The word catches somewhere I'm not interested in examining while half the guest list is arriving behind me.

"Good to be here."

That part, at least, is easy.

The house fills quickly after that. Marisol gets halfway through asking about London before Lucia comes running around her and wraps both arms around my waist.

"You missed my birthday."

"I know, sweetie. I'm sorry."

"I lost two teeth."

"That does change things."

Lucia pulls back and points toward her own face. "And I got taller."

"How much?"

"A lot."

She drags me toward the living room before I can argue.

Bex arrives ten minutes later carrying a box large enough that Dom stops helping Colt with the food and just watches her maneuver it through the doorway.

"What is that?"

"A gift."

"For the baby?"

Bex adjusts the box against her hip. "That's usually how baby showers work."

Dom takes one end before she drops it. "I'm asking because of the size."

"You're being nosy."

"I'm trying to protect the house."

Summer, from the couch, points at Bex. "If it makes noise, you're taking it home."

Bex looks offended. "You think I'd buy your child something obnoxious?"

Every person in the room looks at her.

That carries us through another wave of arrivals, food and people asking me the same handful of questions about London. I've just finished explaining for the fourth time that no, I have not developed an accent, when I hear Sam laugh.

My body recognizes it before my brain catches up. I turn.

He's near the dining table with Colt and Dom, one hand around a bottle of water, his weight settled against the back of a chair. His hair is a little longer than when I left, enough that the curls on top have stopped doing what he wants them to do. He's grown a beard too. Not much, but enough to roughen a face I know well enough that the difference catches immediately.

The bottle pauses halfway to his mouth when he sees me.