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Mrs Miller relaxed noticeably

All through dinner, Ryan’s sisters chattered incessantly to Derek, telling hi in school He acted very interested, and adht A’s – which made Mrs Miller smile

And Mr Miller wasn’t a pervy old uy in his 40’s with salt and pepper hair and a loud laugh

After ere through, the siblings argued about as supposed to do the dishes

“Mom, I have friends over,” Ryan whispered

“Girls, you do the dishes tonight,” Mrs Miller cooodbye to his friends”

“Mooooooodbye on the tops of their heads and they practically floated off to the kitchen

“Thank you for having us for dinner, especially on such short notice,” I said to Mrs Miller

“You’re welcome, dear Come back any time”

“Yeah, thanks… it was great,” Shanna said

Mrs Miller slad you enjoyed it”

I noticed she didn’t say ‘come back any time’ to Shanna

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Shanna, Derek, Ryan, and I stepped out into the war in the woods, and the h wisps of clouds

As we reached my car in the driveway, Ryan put out his hand to shakeyou, Kaitlyn”

“You, too I had a great time – you have a wonderful family”

“He does, doesn’t he?” Derek agreed “The best”

“Yeah, well, you try living with them,” Ryan mumbled

“I did Didn’t work out, remember?”

“Whatever” Ryan turned back to me and asked hopefully, “Maybe I’ll see you around sometime?”

“Uh… yeah Maybe”

“I’ot to live at home, but – ”

“He could’ve gone to Yale or Brown, but he’s staying here for the band,” Derek chi his friend on the back

“Yeah, also ‘cause my parents are too cheap”