Page 106 of On the Breakaway

The food is exactly what you’d expect for lunch before a game. Chicken, rice, and steamed vegetables. Except Katie makes it taste better than any of the restaurants we eat at during the season.

“Damn.” I spear another piece of chicken with my fork.

Katie grins. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“You should.”

“See?” Wyatt points his fork at her. “This is why you’re my favorite Shaw sibling.”

The conversation drifts naturally after that. We take turns updating each other on the extended family drama in an endless rotation of family gossip that never runs out.

“Mom called me three times this week,” Katie says.

“About what?”

“Apparently, Mia’s dodging her calls.”

I chuckle because Mia, Katie’s twin sister, always dodges Mom’s calls. It’s not malicious; the woman just hates getting the third degree, and as the last of her daughters to be unmarried and childless, Mom can’t seem to help herself.

“Did you tell Mom to get off her back?”

Wyatt nearly chokes on his drink, laughing.

“Mom says she doesn’t have enough grandkids.”

My mom has never accepted the concept of enough. Not enough food. Not enough sweaters. Not enough calls. And not enough grandchildren. It’s both one of her most lovable and most exhausting qualities.

Katie glances toward Wyatt.

“How’s your family doing?”

Wyatt snorts. “You mean Sloane?”

“Yes. I mean Sloane.”

It’s not exactly a secret that Wyatt and Sloane only really have each other. They’ve spent years operating like a two-person team against the world, until I started bringing them around my family.

A softer look crosses Wyatt’s face. “Sloane’s good.”

“Mom said she’s in Boston now?”

He nods. “She’s moving into her own place soon.”

“That’s exciting.”

His smile says he’s proud even if he’d rather die than admit it out loud.

Katie laughs. “She’ll have her own apartment. Big girl responsibilities.”

“Don’t remind me.”

“She’s twenty-one,” Katie points out.

“Exactly.”

“She’s not twelve.”

Wyatt stares at her. “Debatable.”