Thump. Thump.
Mrs. Grady taps the microphone—twice—and the sharp pop cuts through the chatter in the room. Chairs shift. Heads turn. Conversations fizzle out as everyone turns their attention forward.
“I have to say…” Mrs. Grady begins, beaming, “after marrying my son off once, I never expected I’d be doing it again.”
… What? I go perfectly still.
There’s a pause, and then a ripple of tentative laughter.
“But here we are.” She gestures around the room. “The first time, well… I was sure Courtney was the one. I think we all thought so, didn’t we?”
Tay’s brows shoot up. Courtney winces and slides down a little in her seat, visibly contemplating whether or not it would be worth it to just crawl under the table. Across the room, I see Luna’s spine straighten.
She looks confused.
Mrs. Grady presses a hand to her chest with dramatic flair. “Two years ago, I fought the most difficult battle of my life. As most of you know, I was undergoing treatment for cancer. I came out of it—stronger, yes—but changed. And when I saw that Noah was still struggling after the divorce… I thought,we should do something.Together. Just the two of us.”
Noah stares straight ahead, but even from here I see the ticking in his jaw.
“I booked a bus tour for just the two of us,” she continues, pausing for effect. “A sort of post-cancer victory lap. Just me and my son, seeing the untamed land of the Southwest. I never imagined…” She trails off, gives a little shake of her head. “I never imagined he’d meet someone likeLuna.”
There’s something… off about Mrs. Grady’s smile. Just a hint of what might be a grimace or a sneer pulling at her lip. Almost unnoticeable.
The crowd murmurs with polite amusement, but the temperature in the room keeps dropping.
“She was… spirited,” Mrs. Grady says. “Spontaneous. A little all over the place.”
Beckett mutters, “Oh,hell no,” and I dig my nails into his arm.
“But she sure made an impression.” Mrs. Grady sighs, as if it had been an ordeal. “At first, I thought:this is a phase. A distraction. But eventually, I saw something I hadn’t seen in my son for a long time. Joy. Light. A real smile.”
Luna is still watching her, looking a little dazed. I want to run across the room and hug her. After, of course, slugging Mrs. Grady.
“And for that,” my poor sister’s future mother-in-law says, smiling broadly, “I have to give credit where it’s due. Luna, you brought my son back to life. You helped him remember how to laugh again. And as a mother… well, that’s all I ever wanted.”
She raises her glass.
“To Noah and Luna.”
There’s a beat of silence. Then a smattering of glasses clinking.
“To Noah and Luna,” the room echoes—some more enthusiastically than others.
“And thank you all for being here tonight,” Mrs. Grady adds, beaming. “Let’s all get a good night’s rest. We’ve got a big day tomorrow!”
She sits down, utterly unaware—or maybe just pleased with the tension humming through the room.
Someone should push her overboard.
“There’s no need to go that far,” Beckett murmurs. And, oh, I hadn’t realized I said that out loud. “Besides, it’s fine. Look...”
“But—”
“Ash,” he says softly. “Look at them.”
And I do.
Noah’s standing now, taking the mic. “Well, I can’t let the night end with that.”
