Page 86 of Every Time We Touch

“Thank you.”

Heather has walked up to us.

“Stop making Jen cry,” she says to Lauren.

Heather adjusts a loose strand of hair near my temple. She’s now not only my twin, but also my business partner.

“Are you checking your email during my wedding?” I ask, because her phone is in her other hand.

“Someone has to keep the business running while you’re getting hitched,” she says.

Our new app gives me so much more satisfaction than Fluxx did toward the end—although Fluxx mattered to me a great deal for the better part of a decade. But this app is different, because Heather and I built it together. And Nora is our most terrifyingly enthusiastic investor-slash-benefactor, which means our board meetings involve excellent wine and zero patience for nonsense.

Across the garden, Clancy’s father is walking around with a toddler perched on his hip. Clancy’s tiny half sister, Sofia, has spent most of the wedding trying to feed cake to Nora’s dogs.

Sofia points at Clancy on the dance floor and shouts, “Fancy!”

Juan stops mid-turn. “You got that right, baby girl,” he shouts.

Clancy laughs so hard she has to lean on him.

Her dad catches my eye and beams me a big smile.

Mom appears beside me and puts her arm around me.

“Happy, darling?”

I look around the garden. At Heather and Lauren standing close enough that their shoulders touch. At Austin filming Juan and Clancy. At Dad talking to Clancy’s father now, both of them looking toward Sofia as she toddles after Princess with a dangerous amount of determination.

“Yes,” I say. “Very.”

Clancy returns, glowing in that way that still makes me forget basic facts, like my own name and whether breathing is mandatory.

Dad joins us with two glasses of champagne in his hands. He gives us each one.

“Thank you,” Clancy says.

He nods. “You survived Juan. You earned it.”

“I heard that,” Juan calls.

“You were meant to,” Dad says.

Clancy smiles at him, then at me.

For a second, the three of us stand there together—me, my wife, and my father.

Dad clears his throat. “You look so happy, Jen.”

“I am.”

He looks at Clancy then. “You too.”

“I’m over the moon,” she says, while threading her fingers through mine.

He looks at Clancy for a moment longer.

“Thank you,” he says.