***
Henry, my father-in-law, was already at the restaurant.
He picked up his jacket.
He hugged me. “You didn’t need to choose somewhere this fancy, Natalie.”
“I didn’t,” I said.
Henry glanced at Serena. “I thought so.”
Serena waved from the center of the table. “Come on, Dad. It’s your birthday.”
Tarryn, Chris’s mother, kissed my cheek and asked about work.
Neither she nor Henry had ever called me a wallet, but they’d watched me pay often enough to know the pattern.
“I thought so.”
I looked at Chris. “Are you going to tell them?”
He adjusted his chair. “In a minute.”
“You said before anyone ordered.”
“Natalie, people are still sitting down. Be reasonable, please.”
He greeted everyone and opened his menu.
The minute never came.
“Are you going to tell them?”
