Spencer Halstead
After eight years with Spencer, Yomi is still treated as temporary by the family that kept his ex's key, bedroom, traditions, and place beside him. During the annual family weekend, they hand Yomi the camera for another family photograph. Spencer Halstead has loved Yomi for eight years and shared a home with them for six. Mallory Hayes has not wanted him romantically in eleven years—but she still has a key to his parents' house, a bedroom nobody else uses, matching family pajamas, and a permanent place in every photograph. The Halsteads call Mallory family. They call Yomi Spencer's guest. At the family-weekend dinner, Mallory pulls Spencer toward the annual family picture while Eleanor hands Yomi the camera. Spencer looks to Yomi for playful rescue, never realizing they are the only person no one thought to include. There is no affair to expose. There is only one unbearable question: How long must a relationship survive before a family stops waiting for it to end?
