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“No…”

Then Peter threw back his head and shouted, “It’s a miracle, Lord!”

“Cut it out.” Katherine reached across the counter and smacked him on the arm. “You’ve seen me cry before.”

“Not at the drop of a hat,” Peter said. “Not even when I told you your pumpkin pie could use more cinnamon. Or that time I said my former mother-in-law made better turkey gravy than you did.”

“Well, because that’s just not true,” Katherine said. “Nobody makes better turkey gravy than I do.”

“In fact, you didn’t even cry when I beat you at Connect Four,” Peter said, ignoring her gravy comment as he shook his head in amazement at the memory. “Dang, that was such a good day. Come to think of it, I never got to show Matthew the winning board. Wanna see it?” he asked, rising from his seat. “I can go get it. Or better yet, let’s go to my office. I don’t trust this one near it. Even now, she’d probably try to sabotage my moment of glory. And it took me a long time to earn that victory, but believe me, it was worth the wait.”

Peter was halfway to the door when he turned back to see whether Matthew was behind him, but instead, he saw that Katherine had moved closer to Matthew, and they were holding hands.

“Wait a second,” he said, pointing from Katherine to Matthew and then back again. “Is this what I think it is?”

“Come and sit down,” Katherine told him. “You can share your triumphant moment with Matthew later. For now, we have something to tell you.”

“You mean that you’re a couple and you’re finally admitting it?”

Katherine and Matthew looked at each other.

“You promised you wouldn’t tell him.”

“And I kept my promise,” Matthew said. “Did you?”

“You think I would just go around sharing our secret?”

“Hold on there, kids! Stop your squabbling,” Peter said. “No one had to tell me anything. I figured it out all on my own.”

Katherine shook her head in disbelief.

“Was it me?” she asked, not waiting for an answer. “Oh no, itwasme,” she worried, turning to Matthew. “Have I been acting like a sap all this time?”

Matthew shrugged as Peter chuckled.

“It wasn’t you, Katherine. Truth be told, it was Matthew.”

“What?!” they said together.

“Yep. It was all you, Matthew,” Peter said, returning to where they were seated. “Did you know your eyes get an even brighter shade of blue when Katherine walks into the room?”

“Seriously?”

“Oh, yeah, man. You got it bad for this one.” Peter pointed his thumb at Katherine, whose face was turning a lovely pink. “I’d say if anyone was really paying attention and around the two of you long enough, they’d see right through that act you’ve been trying to pull off.”

“And how long have you been observing us?”

“Pretty much, from day one. And whew, let me tell you, that little back and forth between the two of you about whether we should sit in a sharing circle or at the counter made for quite the baseline. Everything after that confirmed my suspicion that something more was going on.”

“Dear God,” Katherine said, turning to Matthew. “If Peterknows about us, who else does?”

“Relax, Katie. I’m sure no one else suspects a thing.”

“Oh, and that’s another one.” Peter pointed at Matthew. “I about fell off my chair the first time you called her Katie, and she didn’t punch you in the arm or glare a hole through your forehead.”

Then Peter turned to Katherine. “I thought you hated that name.”

“I do,” Katherine insisted, then glanced sheepishly at Matthew. “I mean, I did. But I only like it when Matthew says it.”