“Fuck,” Grant says, and then quickly looks in the direction of the children. Thankfully, Lily follows her father to the kitchen, and Susie’s are occupied, though Daniel does glare at Grant. “Sorry. But how did he mess up so bad?”
“That’s what I want to know,” I say with a frown. I pause. “Still, this is nice.” A sly smile spreads across his face. “Want to see how long it takes him to figure it out?”
“Fuck yes,” Kyle laughs, and then winces as Daniel’s glare darkens.
Susie snorts. “Please, Daniel, you swear way worse around them all the time.”
“I think that’s you,” Daniel says, rolling his eyes.
I giggle. Susie is an engineer, and she tends to pick up some terrible language on the building sites. It doesn’t surprise me; Susie always had a foul mouth, even when we were teenagers, much to our mother’s despair.
I glance toward the kitchen. I can’t believe Ethan. He went behind my back to throw this party, without having all the information. He didn’t even know when I was meant to be leaving; I never got the chance to tell him that it was a few months away.
At the same time, though, a warm ball of happiness curls in my heart. Ethan did this for me. He wanted me to know that I was loved and would be missed. I’m not sure what to say about that. I am wishing, however, that I’d just talked to him about the job and my intentions in the first place.
Though, I’m not the only one keeping secrets around here. I let a small smile curve on my face. Susie’s right; Ethan and I really need to talk. I’ll corner him after the party.
If Ethan wondered why everyone suddenly seems so amused whenever he brings up my leaving, he doesn’t ask. For me and everyone else, it was no longer a farewell party but just a chance to be together. At one point, Lily put on some dance music, and I now have a video of her swinging Alex around the living room floor, despite his protests. Hayley laughed harder than anyone at that, and asked for the video afterward.
Slowly, though, as children started to yawn, everything wound down to a close. Susie and Daniel are the first to leave.
“We’re staying for a few days,” she explains. “We’ll catch up soon. After you and Ethan talk.”
She winks at me as she leaves and I just roll my eyes at her retreating back. Allison and Kyle leave next; Kyle has work in the morning and Allison has class.
“Oh, before we go,” Kyle says, pausing. He smiles at us. “Allison and I are going to look for a place together.”
I beam and Ethan laughs.
“About time, man,” Ethan says, punching Kyle lightly in the arm. “You took your time.”
“He really did,” Allison says, rolling her eyes. “I ended up asking him.”
I snort. That makes more sense. From behind, Hayley drapes herself over my shoulders, grinning madly as well.
“Congratulations,” she says. “I’m going to head off, too; figured you might want some time to yourself. Do you want me to take Lily, Ethan?”
“What?” Ethan asks, startled. “No…”
“Yes,” I interrupt. I stare at him, challenging. “Ethan and I really need to talk.”
Ethan clears his throat. “Uh…”
“You can’t, Hayley,” Alex says, coming up from behind, frowning at the woman. “You have a client early in the morning, remember?”
“We can take her,” Allison interjects. “I don’t have class until eleven tomorrow, so I can drop her at school before heading to the college.”
“Thanks,” I say with a smile.
“Don’t I get a say in this?” Ethan demands, exasperated.
“No,” I reply bluntly. “You don’t.” I look over at Lily, who’s watching us all curiously. “Lily, is it okay if you have a sleepover at Allison’s? She can take you to school, too.”
“Why?” Lily asks, brow furrowed; she never has sleepovers on a school night.
I pat her head and give her a fond smile.