Just then Tina poked her head out. “Ah I’m so glad you pointed that out, Alice. That must have been the reason Bette and I were an hour late to dinner with you and Tash last week—because we were so busy playing scrabble that we just forgot!”

Everyone laughed. Tasha gave Alice a kiss on the cheek and went inside to help get things ready.

“Hey Alice if you are looking for another beat down tonight after the one Tina just gave you, I think Shay wanted to blow your house up in Minecraft. He brought the xbox,” Shane said as leaned against the doorframe.

“Ugh! There is no way he knows where it is! He’s bluffing.” She got up, put her glass of wine on the kitchen counter, and walked into the living room. Shane followed.

“Where are you two going?” Tasha asked.

“Alice is getting ready to get her butt handed to her on a silver platter by a seven-year-old. Want to watch?”

“Is that even a question?”

Alice turned to Tasha, “You know, a good girlfriend would believe me when I say that he is lying about my house’s location. You can sleep on the couch tonight.”

Shay smiled when he saw Alice. “Your house is going to be burnt like toast.”

Alice rubbed his head to mess his hair up and grabbed a controller. Five minutes later, everyone had wandered into the living room to watch; five minutes after that, everyone was laughing and high-fiveing Shay as Alice watched the remains of her house smolder on the screen. Tasha got up and put her arm around her.

“What was that about me sleeping on the couch, babe?”

Alice glared. They turned off the xbox and gathered around the table out back. Bette sat at one end, with Tina to her right and Kit to her left. Jenny sat next to Kit followed by Tasha and Alice. Shane headed up the other end with Angie and Shay between her and Carmen.

Shane blocked out all of the laughter and conversations to observe the scene. Good—that was the only word she could think of to describe it. Everyone laughing at something Alice said, Jenny rolling her eyes and trying to out-do her, Shay with little Angie on his lap holding a piece of corn that she was attempting to eat, and Carmen. Carmen—head back and glass in hand, laughing at Alice. Carmen—leaning over to talk to Shay and giving him a sweet kiss on the side of his forehead. Carmen—staring back at Shane and blowing her a kiss from two seats away.

“Family, Shane. That’s what this is. It is good—don’t mess it up. Don’t you dare fucking mess this up,” she thought to herself as she breathed deeply and blew a kiss back to her lover.