Three cars again, same order they always came in now — Gilbert first, Julian second, Nate last because he refused to leave the bar until the Saturday crowd was handed off to his staff. Saturday had belonged to the Brotherhood since Lexx was born, an arrangement nobody had voted on and everybody kept showing up for anyway.
Audrey climbed out of Gilbert's car with a tote bag over one shoulder and a bottle of wine in the other hand, already talking before her door had fully shut. Kyle spilled out of Julian's back seat at a dead run toward the front steps, shouting something about a movie he'd been promised, and Julian followed at a pace that suggested he'd given up trying to slow him down years ago.
"Sam couldn't make it," Audrey said, catching up to Arianne at the door. "Something with the studio, apparently. She sent a very long apology text and an even longer list of reasons attached to it."
"She'll survive missing one dinner."
"Try telling her that."
