I’d had a similar feeling, of just… knowing, and when I glanced up from my locker, he was watching me from across the hall. He didn’t look away. Just smiled that slow, confident smile that made my stomach do something unhelpful.
He was handsome then, in that quarterbackslashclass presidentslashboy-next-door kind of way. But it was his eyes that got me—bright blue, sharp as sunlight on water. They’d sparkle when he laughed, when he wanted something, when he looked at me.
And somehow, he’s even more handsome now. Time sharpened all the edges.
I just wish…
“The kids?” I mouth the question.
“With your mom and Babs,” he mouths back.
He moves to stand next to me, the same way he would have before all this, like we belong at each other’s sides.
A matched set. Just like our suitcases.
We’ve always shared this easy… connection, but over the past year, even before he moved out, it’s as though the volume has been turned way down.Off, if I’m being honest.
Beckett slides his arm around my waist, hand settling at my hip.
I ignore the fluttering low in my belly.
It’s only for show.
Luna’s bus tour friends are looking at us both expectantly, Denise giving me a not-so-subtle waggle of her eyebrows. “Now, who is this fine young man?” she asks. “Yours, I assume?”
“My husband,” I say brightly. ““This is Beckett. Bex, these are some of Luna’s friends from that bus tour last summer, Denise and her wife, Patty.”
“My favorite brother-in-law!” Luna beams, looping her arms around him before he can protest. “We’ve missed you!”
Beckett laughs softly, returning her hug with a brotherly squeeze.
But then two other women slide over.
“Oh, Mrs. Grady! Did Noah get the door to your balcony open?”
“He did. Something about our card not being in the slot all the way.” Her expression is all disapproval. “They really should warn you about these things.”
“I’m just glad he could figure it out for you,” Luna says. And then my gracious sister gestures toward Beckett and me. “You’ve met Ashley, my sister, but this is her husband, Beckett. Bex, this is Christine Grady, Noah’s mom.”
Have I mentioned that Noah’s mom is not my favorite person?
Not very hospitable of me—I know—but ever since she tried to break Luna and Noah up, I haven’t felt charitable towards her.
There’s another woman at Mrs. Grady’s side, about my age, with shiny blonde hair and an easy smile. “And I’ve told you about Courtney, right?” Luna says brightly.
“Of course,” I say. But she is my sister’s fiancé’s ex-wife. So…
There’s a beat where we all smile at one another, polite and faintly uncertain.
“You’re in real estate with Mrs. Grady, right?” I ask Courtney, grasping at something neutral.
She nods. “That’s right. But I’m shifting my focus to financial management.”
“Oh—nice,” I say. “It’s good to keep your options open, I imagine.”
Courtney laughs lightly. “I think so.”
Luna jumps in, mercifully. “Courtney flew in yesterday. We’re so glad you could make it.”
