Louis walked over and opened the car door. "Welcome, Miss Maria."
Maria hopped out of the car, beaming. "Mom, Dad, Arthur, Josie, and Avery—you're all really here! I was so worried I might've gotten into a sketchy car and was being scammed." She rubbed her nose sheepishly and added, "But then I thought, who'd bother scamming someone like me? I guess I was just overthinking it."
Arthur raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you say you couldn't get the night off? How did you manage to come here?"
Maria shot a grateful glance at Louis. "He called me and said his boss wanted to treat our family to dinner, and it wouldn't be the same if I wasn't there. I told him I had to stay at the shop, so the driver he sent bought out all the fruit tea. The manager let us close early after that."
