“Honey,” Tess said, “unicorns aren’t real.”
“But they are! They have to be! Uncle Levi told me they’re the national animal of Scotland!”
Tess gave Levi a look.
“Hey, it’s true,” he said.
A timer went off in the kitchen and his mom clapped. “To the dining room, everyone! Food’s ready.”
There was the usual mob movement. The Cutler family didn’t mess around with meals. They got right to it. They might be shit at communicating with one another, but breaking bread together? That was their thing.
Hank started to give a toast to Shirl about their anniversary, but Shirl shushed him. “Enough about us, Hank. I want to talk to Jane.”
Jane took this all in good humor, even as everyone peppered her with questions. In fact, she gave as good as she got, asking them questions too. She asked his mom about some cat they’d been worried about at the humane society. She asked his dad about the library, wondering when he was coming back with more books. She asked Peyton about her glittery pink nail polish, and then she and Tess bonded over the latest season of something they were both marathoning that Levi had never heard of. He was amused, but also grateful and relieved, not to mention a little surprised. The Cutlers didn’t usually mess around when it came to eating, but they were interacting. And even more surprising, behaving.
“My teacher says we’re all going to be murdered by the sun,” Peyton said out of the blue.
Everyone stared at her.
“It’s going to be blowed up,” she explained. “So I was thinking we should ask Santa to come early this year. I want a new bike, but I want time to ride it before we all die.”
Everyone turned in unison to Levi for translation. “I think Peyton’s teacher probably told her class that the sun’s getting progressively brighter and hotter, which will eventually evaporate our oceans, making Earth one big desert similar to Mars. And everyone will die off.”
“Yep.” Peyton nodded. “That’s what she said.”
“But you’ve got plenty of time,” Levi told her. “Just over two billion years, in fact. So probably Santa doesn’t need to come early this year.”
Peyton looked hugely disappointed, and everyone laughed. Jane gave her a sympathetic hug while his mom beamed on. Okay, Levi thought, this wasn’t so bad. His dad hadn’t even tried to pick a fight with him. Not yet anyway. And his mom hadn’t once asked him when he was going to produce a grandbaby like his sister had.
“Pass the wine?” his mom asked him, then turned to Jane. “You’re so good with kids. Do you plan to have any of your own?”
And there it was. “Mom.”
“What, it’s just a question,” she said innocently.
Jane laughed at whatever look was on his face. Probably horror.
“Why are you laughing?” he asked her. “And seriously, why aren’t you running for the hills?”
“Don’t pay any attention to him,” his mom said. “He’s got some drama in him. Always did, to be honest. We host a ski race for charity every year, and for years we competed as a family in the race, encouraging other families to compete with us. The year he turned ten, he announced he was refusing to be on our team.”
“Because you were going to race in your pj’s,” Levi said.
“And?”
“And Dad sleeps in the buff.”
“He was going to race in nude-colored long underwear.”
“Yeah,” his dad said, “I’m not stupid. If I’d fallen while buck ass naked, I’d get freezer burn on my—”