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He looked over and his whole face lit up. He said an excited goodbye to his friends and jogged toward me, backpack bouncing. I got out just as he made it to the car, and I tossed him the keys. He caught them against his stomach and stared at me with wide eyes. “Seriously?”

“Mom says you need behind-the-wheel hours. You’re driving.”

His face ripped into a grin. “Yesssss!” He fist pumped.

We drove for thirty minutes, then stopped at a drive-thru, got food, and headed back to Mom’s. He clipped a curb and almost missed a stop sign on the way home, but we survived.

“Hey, we’re here,” I announced, shutting the front door behind me. “I got McDonald’s.”

“In the kitchen!” Mom called.

I came in and Mom was there loading the dishwasher. Leigh, Mom’s best friend and Brad’s mother, sat at the kitchen table.

“Hey, Leigh.” I set the food down. “I didn’t know you were here or I would have gotten you something.”

She waved me off from her chair at the table, bracelets clinking on her wrist. “I’ve got a Bumble date in a half an hour. Let him buy me food.”

I pulled my face back. “A date? What happened to George?”

“He’s gone, Justin. May God rest his soul.”

I blinked at her. “Your boyfriend died?”

“He’s dead to me.”

Mom laughed and I shook my head at my honorary aunt.

Leigh was a character. Forty-eight like Mom, but her polar opposite in every way. She’d been married four times and had been engaged twice as many times as that. Leigh’s single periods were always a lot of fun for the family. Highly entertaining.

I could hear Chelsea running down the stairs. I pulled out her food right as my little sister tore into the room.

“Jussin!” She hugged my legs for a split second, then launched off me and climbed into a chair. “Yay!” she squealed, seeing the Happy Meal.

I started setting her up, opening her box of nuggets and peeling the top off the sweet-and-sour sauce.

Mom looked up from loading the dishwasher right as I was putting a straw into Chelsea’s apple juice. She made a face. “Justin, why did you get drinks? We have juice here, you didn’t need to waste the money.”

“If I don’t get her the Happy Meal, she won’t get the toy.”

My tone came off drier than I intended. Mom ignored it.

“I got you a chicken sandwich,” I said to Mom. “Where’s Sarah?” I asked, looking around.

Mom dried her hands on a kitchen towel and sat down at the table next to Leigh. “She’s in her room. You’re not eating?” she asked, noticing I didn’t have anything in front of me.

“No, I gotta go soon,” I said. “I need to walk Brad.”

Leigh rolled her eyes. “Still on that, huh? Christine, tell your son to rename his dog, please.”

“He’s a grown man,” Mom said, tiredly. “I can’t tell him to do anything.”

“You know, I’ve been thinking long and hard about it and you’re right, Leigh, I’m being unreasonable,” I said, setting out Chelsea’s fries. “If Brad agrees to pay the seven thousand dollars he intended to stiff me, I’ll rename the dog.”

Leigh made an exasperated noise. “Seven thousand—you got a new apartment, Justin. Your rent is lower than before, how is it that he owes you seven thousand dollars?”

“It’s for pain and suffering now.”

Leigh cackled, despite herself.