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Seriously? Green bean casserole? I force the corners of my mouth into a smile. “Nice. How… thoughtful.”

"Nah, I'm kidding. It’s not only leftovers. We set you a portion of everything aside."

"Aww." I take the bag from him. "You shouldn't have." He's about to hit me with a dry reply, but I shoot him a glare. "I'm lying. You should've. I did a heroic thing. Thank you."

"You're welcome. Nic, Kylie and Lauren told me to tell you to let them know if there's anything they can do to help."

I hide a yawn behind my hand.

"Kieran?” He sounds spooked.

“Huh?”

“I don’t want to alarm you, but there are four dogs in your home. In case you haven’t noticed.” I freeze. Right. If he realizes Brooke is here, he’ll tell Lauren, and Lauren will ask all kinds of questions I’m not sure I want to answer… yet.

Then again, considering their shocked expressions when I ran out of Thanksgiving dinner right after the revelation about having friends in Kinstead, she’ll have a barrage of questions ready for me either way, I guess.

"Dick is having a spontaneous sleepover party with some… friends?" I nervously clear my throat and close the door a tad. He stares at me with the kind of intensity that tells me he sees and notices far more than I think he does. Then he shrugs, clearly not caring enough to ask.

"Thank you for bringing these over, Caleb."

"You’re welcome." He points at the bag in my left hand. "Those are the cinnamon rolls. You’re welcome."

Damn, this guy might make me cry today. How thoughtful. "Thank you. Did I mention you're the best yet?" My grin couldn't get any wider if I wanted it to. I have Thanksgiving dinner and a distraction–the best of both worlds, basically, and also cinnamon rolls!

"That's okay. Keep saying it." He gives me a short wave and then walks off toward Lauren's place.

"Don't be too loud, you two!" I shout after him. His only reaction is a raised middle finger over his shoulder.

"So, apparently Dick and the ladies still get along." Brooke declares from behind me. Quickly, I close the door and turn around. All five dogs have gathered around her like sheep around their shepherd. Very well-behaved sheep. Even my menace of a pubescent son.

They peer up at her, completely enthralled. And I get it. Fuck, if anyone gets it, it’s me.

"Great.” I clear my throat and walk back into my living room. “Did you find a good place for the canaries? They can go in the garage, or you can take them into your guest room if you’d prefer.”

"So you weren't kidding about letting me stay here, huh?"

I shoot her an irritated glare, put the bags on my kitchen counter, then play a game of Tetris with the contents of the bags and my fridge. "Brooke, I don't know what kind of guy you take me for, but can we please stop the prejudice? Generally, I mean what I say.”

“You're my brother's ex." She pats my upper arm dismissively and brushes past me. "A certain degree of prejudice won't ever go away. You're a fool for breaking up with him."

"Yeah, okay, I’ve had enough," I declare and shake my head.

Ever so slowly she reaches for her bag, but I motion for her to stop, close the fridge and pull out my phone to call Evan.

"Already got enough of her?" he asks with a chuckle as soon as he answers.

"Not quite. Though I’ll say the other way around? Probably. Now, help me settle something." I pull the phone away from my ear and put him on speaker. "You’re on speaker. Care to enlighten your sister why we broke up?"

"Oh, yeah, right. I dumped him because I fell in love with someone else."

Brooke's eyes widen as if everything she thought about me turned out to be a lie. I have a suspicion it’s exactly what’s happening. She walks closer and picks up my phone.

"But didn't you say he left you for university and slept around there?" She hisses with a murderous expression.

"Well, I mean, yeah, after I broke up with him." Evan sounds confused. "It wasn't the reason for our breakup. He was well within his rights to sleep around."

"Which, may I just remind you two, was almost twelve years ago at this point," I point out. I was a nineteen-year-old-kid at university. Remi and I had recently broken up. I didn’t have any friends aside from Evan, and to fill an emotional void, I slept around. It might have escalated a little.