"You're perfect,” Gianna says, wiping her hands on her apron. “Please come often."
Spinner, incapable of passing on a joke, speaks with his mouth full. “That’s what she said.” He punches my shoulder just as Rookie pokes his head in the door and silently grabs a table. Ella hasn’t seen him yet, so I focus on her as the room settles into the white noise of a raucous celebration.
Overlapping conversations, laughter, and the clink of glasses punctuate the party while McKenzie and Aarthi continue telling everyone how awesome Ella is at her job.
Ella tries to downplay it, and Essence shuts that down with a pointed "girl, take the compliment."
Ella is animated, hands moving, laughing, and I lean against the wall and watch her be a person people want to know. Not because of her last name. Because of her.
Spinner drops onto the bench beside me. "Nice shiner."
"Thanks."
"Rookie, do that?"
"Yep."
"You hit him back?"
"Nope."
Spinner nods slowly, processing this. "That was probably the right call."
"Probably."
He bumps my shoulder. "She's good for you, man. You're different."
"Different how?"
"You're … calmer.” He gestures at the room. "You planned this. You got everyone together. That's always been your thing. But this time it's not about the party. It's about her." He takes a sip of his beer. "That's different."
I don't know what to say to that, so I just nod. Spinner claps my back and heads off to refill his drink.
Mayhem materializes beside me. He stands next to me against the wall and surveys the room. "You good?" he asks.
"Getting there."
He nods. Sips. Gestures his head toward Rookie, who is quietly eating, biding his time. That's the whole conversation. It's enough.
The door to the back room opens, and Grentley walks in.
This alone is unusual. Although I guess he’s been coming out a little bit now that he finished anger management therapy or whatever went on with him and the Stag twins.
But tonight, Grentley walks in and scans the room until he finds Ella. He crosses directly to her, bypassing Spinner, ignoring Banksy's greeting, sidestepping McKenzie like she's a traffic cone. He stops in front of Ella, who looks up at him with the mild alarm at approached by a six-foot-two block of ice.
“Hi,” she says. "Do you want a Mercy Ball?"
He shakes his head. “I heard you passed your nursing exam."
"I did."
He's quiet for a beat. “Thank you for doing that.” The table around them goes still because Grentley voluntarily speaking to someone is an event. Then he says, "When I was seven, I broke my collarbone. The…adults…in charge of me didn't take me to the hospital for two days. When they finally brought me in, it was an ER nurse who figured out what was going on. She's the one who called protective services. She sat with me the whole time and told me I was brave."
The room is dead silent.
"I don't remember her name," Grentley continues, like he’s casually discussing a hockey game. "But she changed my life. You're going to matter to people like that, Ella. Congratulations."
He turns, walks to the counter, picks up a tray Gianna has already prepared for him, and takes it to the corner without another word.
