He gave us a nod, then continued out of the tent, with Officer Hopper following behind. For a second I thought about letting Max know that the coast was clear and he wasn’t about to be busted for possession, but then I remembered that we didn’t have a real wedding cake thanks to him and decided he could remain in the dark for just a little bit longer.
“Charlie,” Linnie said to me as people started to drift back to their tables and Jimmy and Liz walked toward theirs—not speaking to each other, but no longer glaring at each other either—“where have you been?”
“Been?” I echoed vaguely.
“Been,” she repeated, taking a sip of her champagne and then raising an eyebrow at me. “You missed the appetizers. I saved you a slider.”
“Thanks,” I said, feeling now just how hungry I was. “Bill and I needed to sort something out with the cake. But it’s all fixed now!”
“The cake?” Linnie just looked at me for a moment. “Do I want to know?”
I thought about it, then shook my head. “I don’t think you do.”
“Then don’t tell me,” she said with a smile. “I’m having a really good time at my reception and I’d rather not find out anything that would derail that.”
“Good call.” She squeezed my arm and then headed back to her seat, in the center of the head table next to Rodney.
I started to follow—then realized that there was something I needed to do. I took my phone out of my purse and pressed the contact for my best friend. I felt my heart pound as her phone rang, and just when I was sure she was sending me to voice mail, she picked up.
“Hi,” I said, hearing the relief in my voice. “I wasn’t sure you were going to answer.”
“Hey,” she said, her voice a little cooler than normal. “How’s the wedding?”
“It’s going on now,” I said, taking a step farther back, so that I was leaning against the deserted bar.
“Is it fun? Does Linnie look beautiful?” she asked, her voice wistful.
“She does. And it’s been kind of crazy. I’ll tell you all about it, but . . .” I took a breath and then started speaking quickly, trying to get the words out. “I’m so sorry. I never should have talked to you like that, or stopped calling you back.”
“I’m sorry too,” she said. “I shouldn’t have said those things to you. I just—I don’t know. I keep wishing I was there. I should be there.”
“It’s not your fault your flight was canceled,” I said, feeling now just how ridiculous it had been for me to blame Siobhan for this. “And I know I do sometimes forget about you when my siblings are here. And I’m sorry about that.”
There was silence on the other end for a moment, and then she said, “Well—thanks, Charlie.”
“I don’t mean to.”
“I know you don’t,” she said, and I could practically picture the expression on her face as she said it—a half smile and a good-natured eye roll. “And it’s not like I don’t get it. I mean—not that I would know, but I would imagine that if I had siblings like yours, I’d want to hang out with them too.”
“But still.”
“Well, thanks for saying it.”
“So, what’s going on with the roommate?”
Siobhan groaned. “She’s the worst,” she said. “But I think she hates me too, so hopefully we can get out of it. I’ll tell you all about it when I see you. How’s the wedding been going?”
“Well,” I said, then paused. I wasn’t sure I wanted to go into a litany of everything that had happened with this wedding so far. “It’s been okay. A few . . . minor disasters.”
“Oh my god,” Siobhan said, even as she laughed. “I have to hear all about them. Now—what’s going on with Jesse?”
I looked across to the dance floor, where he was sitting at his table, next to Kyra and Jenny W., laughing at something they were saying. I suddenly wondered if he’d even noticed that I was gone. And while I could understand not wanting to be so obvious in front of Mike, it wasn’t like he couldn’t even talk to me. “I’m not sure,” I finally said. Unbidden, I suddenly thought about Bill asking me to dance, reaching for my hand underneath the supermarket lights, spinning me out but then always spinning me back to him, not caring how it looked or if anyone was watching. Asking me to dance because he’d wanted to dance with me.
“Well,” Siobhan said, letting out a breath, “we can discuss when I’m back? Tomorrow?”
I smiled and nodded, even though she couldn’t see me through the phone, already looking forward to laying this out and talking about it for hours with my best friend—the insane weekend we’d had and all the ups and downs. “It’s a plan.”
* * *
“Okay, this one goes out to Linnie and Rodney!” Glen yelled from the stage. The crowd on the dance floor—which included my sister and newly minted brother-in-law, who’d been dancing up a storm—cheered, and Any Way You Want It launched into their take on “Don’t Stop Believin’ ” yet again.
It was the third time, by my count, that they’d played it during the reception, but the group dancing didn’t seem to mind very much. The rest of the dinner had gone off without any other major disasters. If people had noticed they were eating supermarket cake when the dessert was served, nobody mentioned it. My dad especially seemed to be a big fan, and had eaten at least three pieces. The speeches had all gone well—my dad’s had been lovely, as had Rodney’s mom’s. And best of all was Rodney’s brother, Ellis, who had surprised us all by Skyping in from Japan for his speech. It was very early in the morning there, and he didn’t seem entirely awake, but even so, most people in the tent were sniffling by the time he’d finished it.
Danny had stood up and given a toast that had been very moving—about how Linnie and Rodney’s love had always been an inspiration to him, and he hoped that he would be lucky enough to find something like it someday. I kept waiting for him to mention Brooke, or their relationship, but then he just continued with his speech. I noticed Brooke getting up and leaving soon after—from what I could tell, she still hadn’t returned. And right after that, Any Way You Want It had started playing, and the dancing had begun in earnest.
I’d joined Danny and my siblings on the dance floor and had tried to subtly work my way over to where Jesse was dancing with Mike and Kyra. Because this was it. The wedding was over. The reception was going great, and everyone was having a good time. And now I could finally spend time with Jesse, not having to worry about anything else.
But even though Jesse smiled at me when I joined them and would sometimes take my hand and spin me around, or dip me, he hadn’t made any attempt to dance with just me. And it made me trying to dance with just him feel all the more awkward, and after a few minutes I stopped trying. I didn’t have a ton of time to dwell on this before the bridesmaids pulled me into a bridesmaid dance-off that had everyone up on their feet, laughing and clapping. Whenever I looked across the room at Jesse, he would smile or wink at me, but he wasn’t making any effort to come closer. I was chalking it up to not wanting to be obvious in front of Mike, but the longer it went on, the more it was starting to bother me, and finally I’d gone back to sitting at my table.
“How many times are they going to play this?” J.J. grumbled as he dropped into the seat next to mine. He held up his phone. “DJJJ is all ready to go!”
“Let’s give them a few more songs, but then, you should probably take over,” I said. I hadn’t realized just how long a song it was until I’d heard it played, live, three times. “I’m not sure we can handle another one of these.”
“Oh, good,” J.J. said, brightening, as he started to scroll through his playlists. “Any requests?”
“Just so long as it’s not Journey, I’m happy.” I leaned back in my seat to look out at the crowd, feeling myself relax.
People were divided between the tables and the dance floor. The ones at the tables were either watching the dancers, or talking in groups, or just lingering over cake and coffee. Olly had shaken off his earlie
r rejection and had been spending most of the night talking to one of Rodney’s cousins, who didn’t seem to have much of a problem with the fact that he’d been trying to get the bride to run away with him just a few hours earlier. Ralph had, to my surprise, hung around and was busting serious moves on the dance floor—people had started to give him some room, as his Running Man tended to go wild. Mike was talking to Elizabeth and her husband. Rodney was standing to the side of the dance floor with his parents. My dad and Linnie were dancing, my father doing what we all called the “Jeffrey Grant finger-point dance.” Danny was dancing with our mother, twirling her around while she tossed her head back and laughed. I glanced around and still didn’t see Brooke anywhere, but I was sure she must have come back—it was just hard to keep track of everyone in the shifting crowd.
“Charlie!” I looked up to see Danny standing in front of me, looking happy and out of breath, his bow tie loosened. “Come on,” he said, beckoning me to the dance floor. “No Grant left behind!”
I looked around and realized there was nothing left to do but dance. Things seemed more or less under control. People had enjoyed their supermarket cake, Linnie and Rodney were married, and the band had just launched into “Any Way You Want It.” I kicked off my shoes, then ran to join my family on the dance floor.
CHAPTER 24
Or, The Family Grant
* * *
TWO HOURS LATER, I LEANED back against the couch in the family room and speared a bite of my supermarket cake. “It was a job well done,” I said as I raised a forkful of cake toward my middle brother. “Thanks for saving the music.”
J.J. inclined his head. “I just did what was required,” he said humbly. He really had done a good job once he took over for Any Way You Want It, curating a surprisingly danceable mix, jumping eras and genres from one song to the next, like he was trying to make sure as many people as possible had at least one song they wanted to dance to.
The rest of the reception had gone great—it had been all of us out on the dance floor, getting down, singing along to the words, and laughing. Danny had snuck me glasses of champagne, the General and Mrs. Daniels had proven that they could dance, and my cousin Frannie had, as usual, gotten drunk and started talking too loudly about how she could have been a doctor, if she’d wanted to.
Jesse had left the reception early—he’d said his good-byes and thanked my parents, and then had given me a hug, during which he’d whispered, right in my ear, “Text me when you’re done here.”
And even though there were plenty of times I could have slipped away, I found that I really wasn’t even tempted to. It was Linnie’s wedding, I was having a blast with my family, and everything felt like it was finally working out.
Even Jimmy and Liz had appeared to have a good time—albeit from separate sides of the tent—and it was clear that despite their animosity almost shutting down the wedding, they weren’t about to bury the hatchet and get over it anytime soon.
The party had gone on, the volume definitely climbing, but maybe Don had given up, or maybe the police weren’t responding to him anymore—at any rate, nobody else showed up to tell us to keep it down. At some point, as more and more guests had started to depart, J.J. had set up a playlist and come down to dance with us—dancing close to Jenny W. for the rest of the night. It had been just what I’d wanted—all of us, having a good time together.
The dancing kept going, with people peeling off until it was basically just me, Danny, and J.J. on the dance floor. When J.J.’s playlist came up with three acoustic guitar songs in a row, we decided it was a sign that we should call it a night and head inside.
The caterers had left the kitchen immaculate—much cleaner than it normally was. I was worried that people might have all gone to bed, but when we heard laughter from the other room, we headed out to investigate and found everyone else sitting around the family room, digging into the leftover wedding cake. Linnie and Rodney were there—Linnie had changed into a short white dress halfway through the reception, the better for dancing, and Rodney was still wearing his dad’s suit, the tie loosened. My parents were there, sitting on opposite sides of the room, my dad on the couch and my mom in her armchair, my mom having changed into sweats and my dad still in his tux. Seeing that the party was carrying on in here, we’d all headed in and I had wasted no time in grabbing myself a plate and joining them, taking the spot next to Danny on the couch.
“The music really was pretty good,” Mike agreed from his armchair as he set his empty plate on the coffee table. Mike still being there was a surprise, but one that I was very happy to see. He’d actually participated in the wedding reception—dancing with Linnie, talking to our relatives and family friends, seeming to have a good time. Seeing him in here now, voluntarily spending time with all of us, felt like when a butterfly alights on your hand and you don’t want to do anything or make any sudden movements to scare it away.
“Don’t encourage him,” my mother said quickly.
“You really liked my choices?” J.J. asked, sounding flattered. “You think DJJJ has a future?”
“No,” everyone in the room who wasn’t J.J. said at the same time. J.J. looked offended as he took a bite of cake, and I laughed as I leaned back against the couch cushions, pulling my legs up underneath me. I looked around the room, feeling really at peace and happy. Despite everything—despite all the mishaps leading up to now—it had turned out okay. Because here we were—my family—together after my sister’s wedding, eating cake and laughing.
Everything this weekend had been worth it to get to right now, this moment. I took another bite of cake to stop myself from smiling, and I couldn’t help noticing just how right everything felt. We were all together, finally. Things were finally going back to how they should be.
“Charlie, don’t you think your piece is a little large?” my dad asked, and as I looked down at it, he removed the plate from my hands so skillfully that I didn’t even realize it was happening until it was too late. “I’ll just help you out with that,” he said, taking a bite.
“Hey,” I said, laughing as I tried to get it back from him.
“There is so much more cake in the fridge,” my mother pointed out, shaking her head. But she didn’t sound annoyed—she sounded tired but happy. I looked over at her, curled in her favorite armchair, and smiled at her. She smiled back, giving me a tiny wink. “If any of you would get up, you could easily get some more.”
“They’ve all had enough,” my dad said, his mouth full, as he held my plate out of my reach.
“My cake. Dad!”
“Who paid for it?”
“Technically, me,” I said, giving up and leaning back against the couch cushions. I’d already told the story of the supermarket cake run—leaving out, of course, the slow dancing by the bread aisle.
“Fine,” my dad grumbled, spearing the world’s smallest bite on the fork and handing it to me.
“Thanks,” I said, shaking my head as I took the bite. I looked around the room—at all of us together—and knew that I had to say something. Mike was sitting on the floor, just a little in front of me, and I nudged him with my toe. “Did you have fun?”
Mike looked back at me and smiled, his expression easy and open for once. “I did,” he said, and I was sure I could hear in his voice that he was feeling the same as I was—relaxed and happy to be together with everyone.
“See?” I said, nudging him again. “It’s not always so terrible being a Grant, is it?”
The smile slid off Mike’s face immediately. “Seriously?” he asked.
“I’m just saying,” I said, “that maybe you’d forgotten how much fun we have. I bet you’re regretting staying away so long.”
“Charlie,” Linnie said, looking over at me and widening her eyes. The feeling in the room was starting to shift, like a thermostat had just been adjusted, everything suddenly getting cooler. “Maybe now’s not the time.”
“I was just thinking,” I said quickly, feeling like I had to
get this out—I wasn’t sure when I’d find a better opportunity. “That we should just all get past this thing with Mike and then things can go back to how they were, right?” I gestured around the room. “Like now.”
“Charlie, you don’t get it,” Mike said, turning around to face me.
“Of course I do,” I said, setting my fork down. I noticed J.J. and Danny making eye contact, neither of them looking happy, but I pressed on anyway. “You gave a stupid interview that you shouldn’t have and said things you didn’t mean. We can all move on now.”
Mike shook his head. “You’re missing the point,” he said. “I gave that interview because she wrecked my relationship with her comic strip. She thought it was all a joke, and she never even apologized. I meant every word I said.”
“Michael,” my mother said, sitting up in the chair.
“Are we doing this now?” Mike asked, looking from my mom to me. “Are we really going there? Linnie just got married.”
“There’s a good point,” Rodney said, his voice soothing. “Why don’t we just finish our cake and head to bed. Everyone’s tired—”
“Mom never did that,” I interjected, shaking my head at Mike.
“Are you kidding me?” he asked, his eyebrows flying up. “Our lives weren’t our own. They were just fodder for her. And everything she wanted us to be, she made the Grant kids be. Everything we weren’t, she made up for in her comic strip.”
“That’s not fair,” my mother said, her face getting red as she shook her head. “I’ve never—”
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