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A fluttery feeling spread through her, because even though he said it in jest, it was exactly what she’d hoped to hear. “How nice for you that you’ll have someone to push your wheelchair in your later years. Which obviously—” she waved a hand up and down the length of him “—is not too far off.”
Glaring playfully, he said, “Yes, and I’m hoping that soon she’ll be able to go to an R-rated movie without having to show her ID.”
“Oh, well, I doubt she’d care about showing it for that. I know for a fact she loves movies. She grew up in a village in the middle of nowhere, so a movie theater is like a huge thrill for her and… This third-person thing is getting weird now, isn’t it, because I’m talking about myself like some kind of sociopath?”
“A little,” he teased. “But it’s okay—the guy you’re talking to likes it. He finds it cute.”
They laughed, and Ally was still grinning when Iris and Flynn approached them.
“Ally, hi!” Iris said.
Tag greeted Flynn, then hugged his sister. “I’m going to go give Bering a hand with the grill. Don’t forget we’re talking later, okay, Ally?”
Iris beamed at her. “I’m so glad you could make it. Now I feel like I have two people who came here just for me.”
“I’m happy to be here, but it looks like you have a lot of people who came here for you. I’m not even sure I know this many people.”
Iris frowned and looked around. “I know. It’s a little ridiculous.”
“What do you mean?”
“Most of these people aren’t here for me. That sounds bad, doesn’t it? I don’t mean to sound ungrateful. I love my family, and now that you’re a fake part of it…” she paused to wink at Ally “…you should know that they will use any excuse to throw a party. Like herd animals, they like to gather. And graze.”
Ally wondered about her reference to “these people” and “they” instead of “we.”
“I’m just going to say congratulations and that I think a party in your honor is well deserved. It’s not every day a person earns a doctorate—right, Flynn?”
Gaze glued on Iris, he agreed, “Right.”
With a breezy wave of her hand, Iris said, “I worked hard for it, that’s true. Let’s not talk about the fact that a doctorate in economics doesn’t have quite the same cachet as a medical degree.”
She was obviously joking, but Flynn seemed a little irritated by the self-deprecating comment.
“Iris, seriously,” he said. “Ask twenty people here about asymmetric shock and reserve currency and see what answers you get.”
Iris furrowed her brow and looked like she was going to argue.
Ally pitched her expression to serious and jumped in before Iris could speak. “Plus, I’m very familiar with Flynn’s work. Trust me—his job is not that hard. Everyone knows it’s the nurses and the paramedics who do all the work.”
Iris laughed and linked an arm through one of Ally’s. Tilting her head toward the gazebo, she said, “Come on. Let’s get you introduced to some people.”
* * *
AFTER LUNCH, EMILY announced it was time for all basketball players to gather on the court. Janie read off the teams and went over the rules.
“We’re doing three on three to twenty points or twenty-five minutes’ total game time. Because we’ve got five teams, we’ll draw for the first game, and it will be loser out. The winning team will take the bracket spot and continue from there. My handsome husband, Aidan, has a bum shoulder, so he’s going to be our referee.” She then informed the crowd they had five minutes to find their teammates and discuss strategy before the first game began.
“You’re with my cousin Gareth and his friend Cody.” Ally turned to find Tag behind her. He waved toward the opposite side of the court. He pointed at Ally, and a tall teenager held up a finger in an “I’ll be right there” motion.
“Cool. Thanks.”
“So, you play basketball?”
She shrugged. “Yeah.”
“Did you play in high school?”
