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“I just feel like having a beer, okay? Back the fuck off,” Cam says before pivoting suddenly and storming off in the opposite direction.

I shrug my shoulders and yell after her, “Stop being such a bitch, Cam!”

“What’s going on there?” Boss leans in with a whisper.

I wrap my hands around his muscular bicep as he leads us farther into the backyard where the others are seated.

“Hell, if I know. I told you, she’s so weird sometimes.”

Boss’s friends are really nice people. I can see why he wanted to come. I take stock of my surroundings, the laughter, the banter, the conversations. It’s like a family. Boss told me as much yesterday, but I see what he means now.

Boss leaves me at the picnic table with Tiny to get me some food. Deacon has been grilling all sorts of delicious-smelling items for the past hour, and I’m starving.

“You having a good time in Chicago?” Tiny asks from across the table.

“Yeah.” I take a sip of my beer. “I love it here.”

“I imagine it’s different than Florida. You might not love it so much in the winter. The winters here are brutal.”

I chuckle. “I bet. Admittedly, I’ve never visited in the winter and probably for good reason.”

“We’re talking below zero, lots of freezing wind. It’s enough to put a Floridian in their grave.” He smiles.

“Yeah.” I nod. “I’d die.”

Tiny laughs. “You and Boss seem to be getting along. He’s a good dude.”

“He is,” I agree. “I wish I didn’t have to go back so soon.”

“When are you heading back?”

“Saturday.” I frown. I have five more full days here after today, and I just realized that Boss is probably working some of those.

“Well, I guess the silver lining is that your best friend lives here, so you can always visit again.” He smiles before taking a big bite of his bratwurst in a bun.

“Yeah,” I say, scanning the yard to find Cam. She’s talking to Victoria and Pauly beneath the old oak tree. She has a smile on her face, which makes me happy. Maybe she’s worked out her issue from earlier.

Boss returns and sets a plate of food in front of me. The food is in a heaping mound atop the paper plate. “Oh, my gosh! I’ll never eat all this.” I laugh.

He slides onto the picnic table bench beside me. “Well, I wasn’t sure what you wanted, so I got you a little of everything. Don’t worry, I’ll finish off whatever you don’t.”

I look at his plate, which must be stacked twice as high as my own. “Really? You’ll have room?” I nod toward his plate.

“Definitely,” he scoffs.

“Yeah, we can eat,” Tiny says through a mouthful of food.

I startle when raised voices cut through the air and look up to find Pauly and Victoria screaming at each other. It’s odd because a moment ago they were laughing.

I look at Boss, and he waves his hand through the air. “Don’t worry about them. It’s what they do.”

“What do you mean?”

Tiny replies with a nod of his head. “It’s true. They’ll be fighting one minute and then making out the next. They have a weird dynamic, but they love each other.”

I shake my head and look down toward my food, averting my eyes from the couple. “That doesn’t look like love.” Images of my parents, and the adoring and respectful way they’ve always loved each other come to mind.

“Normally, I’d agree with you,” Boss says, “but it seriously works for them. I think yelling is their love language.”

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