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Hector’s house was a little sixties ranch that was nothing to write home about. He’d bought it for the lot, which was expansive for the neighborhood and shaded by old-growth trees. Spencer and Cat had both tried to get him to do literally anything to the house, but he’d waved them off and poured the remainder of his budget into the biggest deck he could afford with Cat’s friends-and-family discount.

Spencer knew the front door would be unlocked, so he let himself in, Norman dashing out in front of him to get to the back door. Spencer slid it open, and Norman was off to find Penny, Hector’s two rescue pit bulls, and any other dogs Cat and Hector’s family had brought with them.

“Spence!”

Hector was at the grill in full suburban-dad mode—apron on, tongs in hand, rotating hot dogs like it was his job. The long dining table was already covered with a feast of Mexican food his relatives had brought, but Hector could not be deterred.

“How’s it going?”

Spencer stepped into a massive hug.

“It’s a beautiful day. The gang is all here. Make yourself at home.”

Spencer knew that Hector would be attached to the grill until the food was done, so he grabbed a beer from the cooler near the drinks station, which was set up against the wall of the house, and made his way to the gravel patch in the yard where the firepit was, saying hi to Cat and Hector’s relatives as he passed.

Cat and Raj were already sitting in the Adirondack chairs that surrounded the firepit, as was Margot, who rented the store under Spencer’s apartment and had fallen in with their little crew.

“Spence!”

Cat called as he approached.

He sat down and took a sip of his beer before Norman came bounding over with a ball in his mouth. There were balls scattered throughout the yard, but this seemed to be the one all the dogs were fighting over. Spencer threw the ball and put his Vans up on the stone lip of the firepit. There was wood arranged in a careful cone, but they wouldn’t light it until the sun went down and the night got cooler.

“So Raj said you were on a date the other morning.”

Margot wiggled her perfectly manicured eyebrows suggestively.

Spencer looked across the firepit at Cat, imploring her for help with his eyes. He had convinced himself that breakfast hadn’t been a date, especially because Ian had used the opportunity to ask him on an actual date. And even if it had been a date, he absolutely wasn’t ready to let everyone know.

“I told them if you’d gone on a date I’d know about it,”

Cat tried.

“He was hot, though,”

Raj added. “Had a bit of a Kennedy vibe going on. If you haven’t tapped that, you should.”

“I’ll take that under consideration,”

Spencer equivocated, fiddling with the label on his bottle. If he was seriously considering it, no one at this barbecue needed to know.

“Holy shit.”

Cat’s mouth dropped open.

Before Spencer could turn around to see what was going on, he heard, “Hey hey,”

over his shoulder. Rae dropped down into the chair next to his. Spencer almost choked containing his laugh. Hector was a dick.

“Hey, Rae, haven’t seen you in a while,” Raj said.

“Work has been a bitch.”

Rae put their boots up on the edge of the firepit, their posture deflating against the high back of their chair. “Ever since my dad retired, I’ve been going nonstop. I’ve only been in Pittsfield for deliveries. I need to come by soon, though.”

“You’ll be out in a few weeks installing the Tyler Street countertops. We should do lunch.”

Spencer made meaningful eye contact with Cat, who was suddenly very interested in her beer.

“Am I not invited to lunch?”

Raj complained.

“You are lunch,”

Spencer said, then blushed when Raj’s eyes lit up.

Raj waggled his eyebrows. “Tell me more.”

“Oh, leave the poor man alone,”

Margot said, slapping Raj across the chest with the back of her hand.

“Food’s ready!”

Hector called from the deck. Dozens of people started crowding around the table, which excited the dogs. Their little friend group moved slowly, lingering in the back as the crowd thinned out.

Spencer ended up separated from the group but next to Hector over by the buns. “So Rae is here.”

“You mean my very good friend from trade school? Of course they are.”

Hector winked at him.

Spencer laughed and shook his head. Hector and Cat had a very specific sibling relationship, and he knew better than to get in the middle of it.

“In all honesty, though, they’ve been having a bit of a rough time, and I thought it might help for them to get out and talk to some people.”

Hector did a thing with his face that Spencer assumed meant their conversation was done, and they made their way over to the firepit.

Hector mostly ended up feeding bits of hamburger to a bunch of incredibly overstimulated dogs.

Spencer leaned back in his Adirondack chair and closed his eyes as a warm breeze blew past.

He could hear his friends’ chatter, the din of Cat and Hector’s family in the background, and a bunch of enthusiastic barking.

This thing with Ian felt big and amorphous and slightly overwhelming, but no matter what happened, he had these people and nights like this.

And while he’d never exactly envisioned this as his life, he wasn’t mad about how it had turned out.