Page 91 of How Sweet It Is

I rake my hand through my hair. She’s right, of course, but I don’t want to accept it. “I’ll come in soon.”

“You’ll come in now.” She opens my car door. “I’m hungry, and it would be awkward for me to go into your house without you.”

“Hey.” I want to pretend to be upset with her, but I can’t. Cricket is a total cranky pants if she’s hangry, and she can’t cook to save her life, so with her parents gone, my Sunday family dinners are everything to her.

“Come on.” She holds out her hand, and I take it, climbing out of my car.

“All right, but please play along when I lie about school. I know it goes against your moral code,” I say, putting air quotes around it. “But I swear I’ll tell Tobias in my own time.”

“Fine. Can we eat now?” She folds her arms.

“Yes, Jiminy. Sheesh.” I start walking toward the house, and she falls into step beside me.

“You can stop calling me that now.”

I give her a sideways look. “Jiminy? I’ve been calling you that forever. You don’t like it now?”

She shrugs. “It’s just… We’ve grown up. I might want to go by Christine now. And if I do, Jiminy won’t make sense.”

My mouth falls open. “No way. You’re not a Christine.”

She glares at me. “What do you mean, I’m not a Christine? That’s my name.”

“I know, but…” I can’t think of exactly why, but Cricket fits, and Christine is far too girly for her. “You’ll always be Jiminy Cricket to me.”

I open the front door, and we enter my house. Tobias’s house, really. It’s weird now that I’m “away at college” and Tobias has a wife. It’s home but doesn’t feel quite like home anymore.

Kiki pulls me into a hug. “Micah, how are you?”

“Fine.”

Kiki hugs my best friend next. “And you, Cricket? How is school going?”

Cricket gives me a look before smiling at Kiki. “It’s great. I love college.”

“What are you studying, again?”

“I’m a marketing major.”

Kiki grins. “You could do all kinds of things with that degree.”

“That’s what my dad says.”

Kiki doesn’t catch the implied eye roll that goes along with that statement. Cricket wanted to be an English major, but her father talked her into marketing instead. If Cricket had her way, she would get an English degree and become a novelist. Her father argues that there’s no money in writing fiction and she’s wasting her degree.

Personally, I think Cricket should take some of her own advice and do what she wants with her life. But if I were to throw her own words back at her, she’d clobber me, so I stay silent.

“Come to the table.” Kiki motions. “Tobias is grilling some pork chops right now.”

“Ooh, pork chops.” Cricket looks at me and wiggles her eyebrows. She loves pork chops, ham, bacon, and pretty much anything else you can make from a pig.

We enter the dining room. Noah and Savannah are already there, sitting next to Skyler and Kiera at the table. Levi and Claire are sitting opposite them. I nod at them collectively,trying not to stare at Kiera so my crush on her isn’t obvious. I asked her to dance at the wedding, but I haven’t gotten up the courage to ask her out yet.

Cricket pulls out a chair next to Claire and sits. “How are the newly engaged couple?”

Levi’s grin widens. “Engaged, yes. Dead inside? Also yes.”

Claire elbows him. “What does that even mean?”

---