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We’re good. It’s all gonna be okay.
Sofie’s phone buzzes and she grins when she sees her text.
She holds up her phone to show me.
Aunt Hilary
Guess whose house just sold?! Landmark Mountain, here we come!
I wrap my arms around her, pulling her close. “That didn’t take long. I’m really happy you’ll have your family close soon.”
She leans up on her tiptoes and plants a light kiss on my lips. “Everything’s working out for us,” she whispers.
“Yeah, it is,” I say, leaning my forehead against hers.
“Are you guys gonna be in love now too?” Owen yells from the table. He crinkles up his nose. “Aunt Scarlett and Jamison are all mushy now too.” He shudders and everyone laughs.
My family turns to look at us with various levels of amusement and awkwardness on their faces.
I put my arm around Sofie’s shoulder and nod. “Yeah, buddy. Pretty sure that’s what’s going on here.”
Sofie flushes, looking so happy, and then she gasps. I turn to see what she’s looking at and see little Delgado stretched out across Lucia’s back. I chuckle. That damn chihuahua and his husky bestie are too cute for words.
“I’ll let you stretch out on me like that later if you’re into that sort of thing,” I whisper in Sofie’s ear as we start helping our plates.
She shoots me a pointed look over her shoulder.
“No talk like that around your family,” she says under her breath.
“What? It’s not like I’m asking you to go skinny-dipping or anything.”
She gives my chest a shove and I step back, laughing. When we turn to go sit down, my family is watching us. They pretend to return to their conversations when they realize they’re caught.
Sutton clears his throat. “Thanks for having us, Theo. I don’t think we’ve all been here at the same time since you finished building the place. Feels good.”
“Everyone should come to our house next,” Owen says. “Maybe by then I’ll have a puppy and I’ll need to stay close to home, so everyone can just hang out there…”
“Give that boy a puppy already,” Scarlett cries.
Sutton points his fork at her. “Zip it.”
“Does anyone need me to dogsit?” Owen asks, looking at Scarlett and Jamison and then me. “I’ve been hanging out with Grinny a lot since school is out, but we could always handle a dog too, right, Grinny?”
“We sure could.”
“I’ve got a goat you could come walk,” Callum says. “Delphine has been acting up a lot lately. Found her in the pantry this morning. She’d chewed a hole in the peanut butter jar and had it all over her beard.”
Owen’s mouth drops open. “She likes peanut butter?”
“Loves it. It was the biggest mess. She startled me and when I yelled, she fainted and the peanut butter was extra goopy from her being into it…when she fell, it dripped all over the floor.”
Everyone but Callum cracks up.
“She’s out of control,” I say, when the laughter quiets down. “How is she still getting in the house?”
“I can’t figure it out,” Callum grumbles. “Between her and Irene, I’ve got my hands full.”
“Irene?” Sofie asks, still giggling.
