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“You’re in my spot, princess,” he mutters. Whatever his girlfriend whispers back to him makes him brighten, reaching under her long legs and lifting her with a squeal, settling her on his lap as he steals back his seat.

Bennett steps in behind me, calling out a quick, “Everyone sit. Food is ready.”

Rhys takes Sadie’s feet out of his lap and presses a quick kiss to her temple, before standing to help Bennett. Paloma is already talking softly with Lily, sitting close together on one side of the head of the table.

Feeling antsy, a little nervous, hands shaking, I turn toward Bennett and Rhys.

“Can I help?”

Rhys gives me a long, apprehensive look.

The guy fucking scares me. I doubt he knows that, but I have a feeling maybe Bennett sees it in me. Maybe Freddy too. I admired Rhys, for a long time. I still do—but I fucked it all up and . . . I’ve never quite known what to say. How to apologize or fix it. I’ve spent too long in my life being the outcast, and it felt easier to let them all hate me instead.

But I don’t want to be that anymore. I want this. Family. Friends. Lily and me, not alone and entirely reliant on just each other. I want a loud home, big family breakfasts.

Maybe this is the beginning.

Finally, Rhys nods, handing me a massive handmade dish with little handprints on it, barely visible beneath the piles of steamy pancakes and waffles.

“If you can take that and see if anyone wants a coffee?”

I nod, secretly grateful for something to do, something to help me feel less out of place.

“I’m Ro,” I hear the tall brunette say to Lily, smiling. “I don’t know if you remember me from Brew Haven.”

“I do,” Lily says.

“Did you end up liking that latte? The boys have the stuff here to make another one, if you want it?”

“Yeah, I—”

Lily cuts off suddenly, staring up at me as I lean over her to place everything on the center of the table. I don’t know if I’m doing it right, the way they usually do. And Freddy must clock the panic on my face, as he reaches out and scoots it to the right, turning it long-ways with a grin.

I clear my throat, hovering over the back of Lily’s chair. “What latte?”

“Brown sugar cinnamon.”

“Oh—”

“I can make it,” Rhys offers, before hesitantly squeezing my shoulder. “You can sit.”

“Thanks.” I settle into the chair at Lily’s right side. It feels a little wrong, even more out of place to be on this side of her. I’m always on her left; and even knowing she’s wearing her hearing aid, it’s just different.

It’s a flurry of well-orchestrated movement, food placed on the table and then passed around once Bennett sits on Paloma’s other side, at the head of the table. He plates all of Paloma’s food for her, so I follow his lead and do the same for Lily, knowing from the spread what she’ll eat.

But Paloma is pointing to a few things that aren’t usual for her, quietly offering, “These are my favorites, if you want to try them.”

Lily nods brightly, reaching to grab a few with her fork and plop them on the plate still in my hands.

My chest feels tight. Am I doing all this wrong?

I wish Holden was here.

Lily takes her plate from me, leaning up to kiss my cheek with a “Thank you.” Then she presses her hand under the table onto my leg, leaving it there as she waits for someone else to start eating. I follow her lead.

Rhys comes back to the table with mugs in each hand, one to sit in front of his girlfriend with a swirling design in the foam.

The other he puts in front of Lily. She offers a quiet thanks to him as well, which he acknowledges with a dimpled smile.