Bryan pulled up to the curb and put the car in park. Lucy was still in the backseat making a case for a drive-through that Bryan had been politely ignoring for the last ten minutes.
"It's on the way," she said.
"It's not on the way."
"It's in the same direction."
"That's not what on the way means."
Alice unbuckled, picked up his bag and the shopping bag, and got out. He leaned toward the open door.
"Thanks for the ride."
Bryan raised two fingers off the wheel. Lucy abandoned the argument entirely to lean across the backseat and wave at Alice with both hands like he was leaving on a very long voyage.
"Bye! Text us when you get there!"
"I'm already here," Alice said.
"Text us anyway!"
He closed the door. The car pulled away. He watched it go for a moment, then turned and walked up to the front door.
"I'm home."
He said it before the door was fully open, the way he always did. A habit from when he was small, young enough that he couldn't explain why he'd started doing it, only that it had felt important to announce himself. To make sure she knew he was back. He'd never stopped.
He stepped inside and set his bags down near the entrance.
The house smelled warm and a little sweet, which meant his mother had been in the kitchen for a while. He could hear her from that direction, the soft clatter of things being moved around. He was already heading toward it when someone came out of the living room instead.
Alice stopped.
Austin Montgomery was a tall man with an easy way of standing, like he'd made peace with the space he took up a long time ago. Dark hair going a little grey at the temples, the kind of face that was just naturally warm, not because he was performing it but because it seemed to be where his face had always landed. He was holding a mug and he smiled when he saw Alice, simple and direct.
"Hey. Helen's in the kitchen. Making snacks."
"Thanks," Alice said.
That was it. No fuss, no drawn-out greeting. Austin was like that. He said what needed saying, didn't fill silence just to fill it, and treated Alice with the same easy straightforwardness he seemed to treat everyone with. Alice had liked him from the first time they'd met, in a quiet, uncomplicated way.
Austin was going to marry his mother. Which meant he was going to become part of this house, part of this life, and he was going to know things, if he didn't already. And if he didn't, at some point he would, and that was the part Alice couldn't quite calculate. Because for most people, what Helen had done wasn't something you found out about and simply moved past. Most people had reactions. Strong ones.
And Austin seemed like a genuinely good man, which was its own kind of problem. Good men had principles, and principles sometimes made things complicated.
Alice picked up his bags. "I'll go say hi to her."
"Sure," Austin said, already turning back toward the living room.
Alice went to the kitchen.
"You're home!" Helen turned from the counter, eyes bright. Apron tied, hair pinned back, a small tray of something cooling beside her. She opened her arms and then redirected the gesture into patting Alice's cheek as he came close enough. "How was it? Tell me everything. Were people nice? Did you eat enough at lunch?"
"It was fine. People were fine. Yes to the last one."
"That's not enough details."
"I'll give you more later." He set the shopping bag on the counter. "Aunt Mathilda sends her love. And your things back."
Helen looked at the bag. Her expression went into the soft, slightly complicated shape it took whenever Mathilda came up. "She could have kept them longer."
"She said she was done with the samples." Alice paused. "She put a few things in there for me too."
Helen looked up at him. Something crossed her face, quick and quiet. She reached in, looked at the dark blue shirt for a moment without saying anything, then folded it back neatly and handed the whole bag to Alice.
"Put it in your room later," she said, and went back to the counter.
That was an approval. Not loud, no speech attached. But Alice had known his mother long enough to understand the vocabulary of her silences, and that one meant she wasn't going to make an issue of it.
He set the bag aside and picked up the knife she'd put down, started on the fruit she hadn't gotten to yet. They worked next to each other without talking much, the comfortable kind of quiet that came from years of sharing the same kitchen.
Helen told him Aunt Mathilda had called after Alice left the office, which he'd expected. He told her Aunt Mathilda looked well, which was true. Helen said she was glad, then spent a few minutes debating whether sage green or warm cream would suit the reception curtains Mathilda had commissioned.
Alice said cream. Helen said she'd been leaning toward sage. They went back and forth on it until Austin appeared in the doorway and the three of them moved to the table.
The sandwiches had the crusts cut off, which Helen had been doing since Alice was a child and which he had never mentioned was probably unnecessary at this point. There were sliced peaches and a small pot of tea that Austin poured for everyone.
They were partway through eating when Alice noticed it.
His mother and Austin were looking at him. Not mid-conversation looking. The kind of looking people did when they'd been building up to something for a while and had finally decided now was the time.
Alice set down his sandwich.
"You have something to say," he said.
Helen laughed, a little nervously, which was rare for her. Austin's expression stayed steady but there was something in it paying close attention. Helen reached across and put her hand over Alice's.
"We've decided to get married," she said.
A beat.
"Nothing big," Austin added. "Just civil. Small."
"When?" Alice asked.
Helen blinked. She had clearly prepared for more of a response than that. Alice watched her recalibrate. "We're thinking next week, maybe. Haven't locked in a date yet."
Alice nodded and picked his sandwich back up.
They looked at each other, then back at him. Austin had a small expression on his face that was trying not to be amused and mostly succeeding.
"That's it?" Helen said. "You're not surprised?"
"I knew it was coming," Alice said. "You've been together for a while. It made sense."
"Alice."
"I'm not against it, Mom."
Helen looked at him for a long moment, something warm and a little overwhelmed moving through her face. Then she let out a breath and squeezed his hand once before letting go. "You're impossible sometimes."
"You say that like it's a complaint."
"It is a complaint." But she was smiling.
Austin refilled Alice's tea without being asked. "We were expecting a longer conversation."
"We can have one if you want. I just don't have objections, so there isn't much from my side."
"Most kids would have feelings about this," Austin said. Not pushing. Just observing.
"I have feelings," Alice said. "They're just not complicated ones." He glanced up. "I met August today, by the way."
Austin's expression shifted, small and interested. Helen made a sound caught between concerned and curious.
"And?" Austin said.
"He was dragging someone out of a room. And later he gave someone matching black eyes."
A silence.
"Matching," Austin repeated, then let out a slow breath. "That kid."
"The person looked like a panda."
Austin chuckled and picked up his tea.
"The same person was holding a girl's wrist earlier," Alice added. "Tightly. So the person probably deserved it."
Austin set the tea back down. The almost-amusement was gone, replaced with something quieter. "Still. I'll talk to him."
Helen was looking between the two of them. "On the first day," she said to Alice. "You couldn't go one first day."
"I didn't do anything," Alice said.
"Are you sure you didn't beat someone with a stick?"
Alice paused.
"That's different."
Austin looked at him. "A stick?"