Violet shifted her weight and squirmed. She balled her hand so she clutched his jacket, then settled down again. Laurence stroked her hair and decided it was time to say his goodbyes to the guys. He had an event to be present for, and he wanted to give it his fullattention.
Gwynning: I’m going to go findAlex
KnotMyProblem: If you see TD, make sure you give him an obnoxious hug for me. Tell him that he needs to get his ass back online. I miss torturinghim.
Gwynning: Willdo.
LoveHarley: Aaand I show up just in time for the conversation to wind down. Just my luck, right? Hey guys. Bye Gwynn. Enjoy your night,okay?
xVerity: Hey Harley. Night, Gwynn. See youtomorrow.
Gwynning: Night,guys.
Laurence closed out of the group and tucked his phone away. He adjusted one of the straps on the carrier—it was digging into his hip—then made his way through the gallery to try to find Alex. The display room wasn’t particularly large, but the crowds were effective at hiding faces. Laurence took to looking for the blue-purple shimmer of Alex’shair.
“Hey!” a familiar voice called out from not that far away. Gage, whose cheeks were flushed, held up his flute of champagne and made his way over to Laurence. “Gwynn, hey! I’m havingso much fun.Are you having fun? This is amazing. I’m so glad Mal could babysit for me. I don’t wanna gohooome.”
Laurence looked Gage over, startled. “TD, are youdrunk?”
“No.” Gage paused. “No, I’m really not. I only had like… three.” He wrinkled his nose. “Maybe. But… but this is my first time out in a long,longtime and I’m going to do all kinds of adultstuff!”
Laurence withheld a laugh. “I can seethat.”
“I mean… did you hear?” Gage’s eyes lit up, and he laughed. The sound was light and airy, more carefree than Laurence had ever heard him before. “God, even if Alex wasn’t having his exhibition tonight, I’d still be drinking. They gothim.”
“Got who?” Laurenceasked.
“Him!” Gage gestured with his drink, nearly spilling the liquid over its rim. “The grand dickcheese himself,Jason.”
The hairs on the back of Laurence’s neck stood on end. Shortly before Emily had been born, Matthew had come clean to him about what Jason had done, and when Laurence found out that Alex had been abused by him as well and had a restraining order against him, he’d gone straight to the police. “They gothim?”
“Yes!” Gage laughed. He swung back some of his drink, all grins. “It… it was a long time coming. But apparently, after Alex kicked him in the nuts, he went to the hospital. There were already warrants for his arrest, and it all kind of snowballed from there, and there was some long, drawn-out legal… thing, I don’t know, but today he was found guilty, and he’s going tojail!”
“You’re kidding.” Laurence wasn’t sure whether he could believe him or not. He assumed he would have heard news from the police, especially if Jason had been apprehended, but Gage’s enthusiasm wasreal.
“I’m not!” Gage wrinkled his nose. “I wish I had a phone. I’d show you the news, but… but you can look it up! It’s great news. I’ve been trying to find Alex to tell him, but he’s disappeared.Have you seen him?” Gage looked over his shoulder, as if Alex might appear when summoned. “His parents arrived. I was talking to them before, but Samantha asked if I could go find you, so… well, I did. But I want Alex. I want to tell him that Jason isn’t going to hurt anyoneanymore!”
With a hum, Gage downed the rest of his champagne. He shook his head, then pushed his hair back from hisface.
“Samantha was looking for me?” Laurence asked. As much as he wanted to tell Alex the news, he knew better than to ignore a request from Samantha herself, especially after their last conversation. He glanced through the crowd in the direction Gage had come in to find Samantha standing with a small group across the room. When she noticed he was looking, she lifted a hand in greeting. It wasn’t overly warm, but it wasn’t foreboding, either. Their relationship had improved over the course of the last year, especially after Violet had been born. “Do you know what shewants?”
“No. Just… you.” Gage hiccupped, looked betrayed that his own body would do something so strange, then covered his mouth with his hand. “Oh my god. That’s notgood.”
“Thanks for letting me know. I’ll go find out what she’s after.” Laurence paused. “And Knot sends along his most obnoxious hug and says that you should get your ass back into the chat. Hemissesyou.”
“Ofcoursehe does,” Gage said with a dramatic sigh. “He’s so annoying. I think he has a thing for me, but I don’t know how to let him down. I’m not interested in anyone but Aaron. But, um, I need to go… probably use the bathroom, or something.” He blinked rapidly a few times, then shook his head. “You tell him that… that he needs to leave me alone because I’m having a good night out, okay? I don’t have a phone, so I can’t reply… unless this place has WiFi. If it does, I could even show you that newsarticle!”
“I don’t think it has WiFi,” Laurencereplied.
“Well, yeah! So… so just let him know, or something.” Gage looked over his shoulder in the direction of the bathrooms. “Have a good night, okay, Gwynn? See you later. Bye,Violet.”
“Have a good one,TD.”
Gage wandered off, a little uncertain with his step. Laurence watched him go until he was sure Gage was going to be okay, then refocused his attention on Samantha. If she wanted to see him, then there had to be something goingon.
Laurence made his way through the crowd and joined Samantha. She stood on the outskirts of a small group of people, Clarissa at their center. While Clarissa laughed and joked and told stories about a particular night at the bar she worked at, Samantha stood back and offered her silentsupport.
“Hello, Laurence,” Samantha said when he arrived. She smoothed her hands down the front of her suit jacket and nodded politely. “I hope you’ve enjoyed the exhibition sofar.”
