Closing the door behind me, I go downstairs and into the kitchen. Everyone is gathered around the counter, filling plates with pizza.

“Sam!” Lennon says as soon as she sees me.

“Hey,” I say back, going over to her. “I haven’t seen you since Rory’s wedding. How are you?”

“Wow, it’s been that long? And good. Busy with teaching, but good. How are you?” She wiggles her eyebrows. “You have a girl upstairs. I know all about that.”

I chuckle. “You remember Chloe, right?”

She nods and goes back to the counter, squeezing in between Jacob and Mason to get pizza before it’s gone. “Yeah. We never talked much, but I definitely remember her. I think the whole town does.”

“That’s for sure.”

I get pizza and join the rest of my family in the formal dining room, which is getting more use today than it normally does all month.

“Hey, Nana.” I put my plate down and go around to the other side of the table to give my grandmother a hug. She’s the last remaining grandparent we have, and is still very much with it, though she’s starting to forget things much more frequently now.

“Thanks for letting me know you got pizza,” I say dryly when I sit down.

“We didn’t want to bother you,” Dad replies. “I know how little sleep you get.”

“And no one wanted to go up and risk seeing your naked ass on top of—” Mason cuts off when Nana glares at him.

“Speaking of, where is Chloe?” Mom asks.

“She’s still sleeping. I don’t want to wake her up,” I tell her and pick up my pizza.

“Is she not feeling well?”

“No,” I say. “I think she’s worn herself out from traveling back and forth from Chicago to LA.”

“Oh, she lives in LA? That’s rough.”

“She could move back to the Midwest,” Mom notes, hoping if she says it enough it’ll actually happen.

“She could,” I agree. “If she wanted to.”

“She seemed like she did want to,” Mom goes on, and Jacob gives me a look from across the table, knowing where the conversation is going. “She did mention that she likes it here.”

“Mentioning you like an area doesn’t mean she’s putting her house up for sale,” Dad says.

“Chloe is a small-town girl at heart, like her mother,” Mom says. “I’m sure she’d prefer our wonderful little town over Los Angeles. The crime rate there is high, isn’t it, Mason?”

“I don’t work in LA,” he says back, not wanting to get involved in Mom’s crazy planning and plotting.

“Well, all I’m saying is Silver Ridge is a much safer place to live and raise a family.” Mom blots the grease off her pizza with a napkin. “I’m still holding out hope for you two.” Mom looks at Mason and Jacob. “But I think Sam's the next to get married.”

“Start taking bets,” Jacob grumbles. “Profit off of our misery while you’re at it.”

Mom gives him a pointed look. “I want you all to be happy, no matter what that entails. If the only grandchildren you give me have four legs, then I’m happy if you’re happy.”

“I like being single,” Mason quips.

“I did too,” Nana agrees with a wink. “It was much more fun to be single, if you know what I mean.”

“See?” Mason motions to Nana. “Also, gross.”

“Oh, don’t act like you think I’m innocent. If I was, you wouldn’t be here.”

“I don’t like being single,” Lennon says with a frown. “I think I’m cursed to be alone forever.”

“You’re looking at it all wrong,” Mason tells her. “It’s a blessing. No one to hold you back or tie you down. And no one to disappoint you.”

“That’s depressing,” Lennon tells him. “And you want to talk about disappointment? Try online dating. Yep, pretty sure I’m going to be single forever.”

“You need to get out of this town,” Mason says and immediately winces from Mom’s icy glare. “It’s a nice town, I’ll give you that,” he adds. “It’s quiet and relatively safe, and yeah, I like it. I’d like to come back here eventually, but…” He looks at me. “We can’t all date the one person we had the hots for back in high school.”

“Then date someone else,” Mom says. “You dad wasn’t my high school sweetheart.”

“My point is,” Mason starts, and we all watch him knowing Mom’s not going to like what he’s going to say. “Small towns mean small dating pools.”

Mom just purses her lips and picks up her pizza. “How’s your class this year?” she asks Lennon.

“My first-graders are great, but I have some parents I already know are going to drive me insane. I have a new principal this year too,” she adds ruefully. “A new hire from an outside school corporation. Not me.”

“I’m sorry,” I tell her, knowing she’s been applying for principal jobs for several years now. “Are you back at Silver Ridge Elementary now?”

She nods. “Yeah. The big city chewed me up and spit me out. Though it’s kind of funny I leave Detroit right as Mason gets reassigned there. I do like it here, like Aunt Jeanette.”

“You always were my favorite niece.”

“I’ll let the fact that I’m your only niece slide.” Lennon winks and leans to the side, looking out of the dining room. “There’s either a ghost in the house or Chloe is coming downstairs.”

I stand, smiling as soon as I see her coming down the stairs. Chloe’s eyes meet mine and she smiles too, and then sees everyone behind me in the dining room. She slows, eyes going wide.

“Your whole family is here,” she whispers. “And you just let me sleep?”

I slip my arm around her. “You didn’t feel well. I thought you should rest as much as you could.”

“Now I feel stupid.”

“Why would resting when you don’t feel well make you stupid? I think it would be the opposite.”

“Because,” Chloe presses, cheeks reddening a bit, “now I have to walk in and everyone will look at me.”

“And they wouldn’t look at you if you’d walked in with the rest of us?”

“Yes,” she says with a laugh. I kiss her neck and go into the kitchen with her. The dining room is connected to the kitchen by a butler’s pantry with cabinetry that was original to the old farmhouse. You can’t see straight in, but I can tell by how quiet everyone’s has gotten that they’ll all peering in, or at the very least listening.

“Now I have to be the center of attention.”

I laugh. “Wait, so being on a talk show or being interviewed on national TV is fine, but walking into the dining room after everyone else is already seated isn’t?”

“When you say it like that, it sounds even worse.” She picks up a plate from the counter. “Really, I can’t ever face your family again. We should leave now while I still have my dignity.”

“And pizza.”