"Who's this?" her mother asked as she let her daughter go.
"Max Malone. My mother, Maggie Reid," Kara said. "And my aunt, Beth Reid," she added as another woman edged Danny out of the group.
Beth was a curvy blonde with bright blue eyes. "Hello. It's nice you brought someone, Kara."
"A nice change," her mother added, still giving him a speculative look. "Please tell me you're not just one of her coworkers who is going to drag her away in five minutes to finish some job."
"Mom," Kara protested.
"I'm not her coworker," he said. "And I can't imagine leaving a party as fun as this after only five minutes."
"Good," Maggie said with approval. "I like him, Kara."
Kara rolled her eyes. "Don't get carried away, Mom. We're just getting to know each other."
"Well, I know you, Kara, and you wouldn't have brought him here if he wasn't a little special," her mother said.
"Oh, he's special, all right," Kara said as he put his arm around her shoulders.
He gave her mother and aunt a smile. "Actually, Kara is the one who's extraordinary," he said. "I feel like I won the lottery."
"You are so sweet," Maggie said. "And you're right, my daughter is extraordinary. I'm glad she finally met someone who can see that."
"Okay, that's enough," Kara said. "I'm going to get us some drinks. Anyone else need anything?"
"No," Maggie said, waving Kara away as she urged him to take a seat at a nearby booth.
As Kara fought her way through friends and family to get to the bar, he was peppered with questions by Maggie, Beth, and a younger woman named Ria, who was apparently Beth's daughter and was planning a wedding in May. Her first concern seemed to be whether Kara would bring him to the wedding, since she had said she was coming alone. Her mother instantly cut her off, saying they could always make room for him, which sparked a bit of a tense discussion between the two before Ria left to find her fiancé.
Wanting to change the topic, he asked Maggie about her teaching job, and she blossomed with his questions; her passion for her career and her students more than clear. She also mentioned that Beth did music therapy with her students, which led Beth into a conversation about how music could help kids get over trauma.
Kara eventually made it to the table with two beers, and he gave her a smile as she handed him a frosty mug and sat down next to him. Putting his arm around her shoulders, he said, "I missed you."
She flushed a little. "Sorry, I kept getting stopped to chat."
Beth slipped out of the booth. "I need to say hello to someone. I'll speak to you later."
She'd no sooner left when Kara's cousin Sean slipped in next to Maggie. And as he sipped his beer and met various family members over the next thirty minutes, he felt more and more comfortable. While a few people asked him about his work, he was able to stall any deep dives into his business by just making everything sound a little boring.
He couldn't help noticing that everyone was eager to talk to Kara, too. Apparently, she hadn't been spending much time with family since she'd joined the FBI, and everyone was eager to catch up. He enjoyed seeing her relaxed and loved. She seemed softer than she had before and very, very real—in a way that made his chest tight. She belonged here, in this loud, warm, chaotic place where everyone knew her favorite food and teased her about her terrible karaoke skills and asked about her job with genuine pride and concern. She had roots so deep they were unshakeable. He had never had roots like that, not when he was a kid, and not when he was an adult.
The time passed quickly with food dropped off at their booth: burgers, fries, chicken fingers, salads, an assortment of other side dishes, as well as beer and wine, and they ate their way through many conversations.
But eventually, they found themselves alone in the booth, and that's when Kara gave him an apologetic look. "I told you it would be a lot."
"I'm not complaining. Your family is great. You're lucky."
"I know I am. Sometimes I forget." She paused as the crowd hushed and her Uncle Danny stepped up to thank everyone for coming.
As Danny talked about his family and friends, the support he'd always had in his life, calling out his wife and kids, he got a little emotional. Beth put her arm around his waist as he said, "I have to say that every birthday is bittersweet without my brother."
At his words, he felt Kara tense and impulsively put his arm around her shoulders again. She didn't seem to notice as her jaw tightened, and her gaze was fixed on her uncle.
"Jimmy was one of a kind. My older brother was my best friend. He's the reason I became a firefighter. He's the reason I keep going even when it's hard. He sacrificed his life, and he's an inspiration every day. But it's not just his bravery that I remember, it's how funny he was, how adventurous he could be, how he was the first one to say yes to any idea, and how he loved his family, no matter how crazy they could be." His voice choked for a moment, and Max saw a lot of people wiping their eyes. "To Jimmy," Danny said, raising his glass.
"To Jimmy," everyone echoed, except for Kara. She'd raised her glass, but the words seemed to be stuck in her throat.
He gave her shoulders a squeeze.
