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Luna nodded and the two women waved at each other.
Troy Valentine, who was standing next to Allison, took over, nudging the teenager. “Not sure if you’d remember this munchkin. Our little sister, Mila.”
The girl rolled her eyes at the use of “munchkin.” Luna’s eyes, on the other hand, flew open wide. “Oh my gosh! I was just thinking how familiar you looked, but I couldn’t place it! I was wondering if you’d been coming into the diner, and that’s where I recognized you from—but, no, of course you’ve grown up! Wow, Mila. You were just a little thing the last time I saw you!”
She held up a hand in greeting, and asked, “The diner?”
“Yeah,” Gavin filled in. “This is Luna. She’s Grace and Serge’s granddaughter.”
Mila’s eyes widened, and a thin sheen of tears formed in them. “Oh, wow! How is Serge? I’ve been really worried. Everyone says he’s fine, but that seems like the kind of thing you just tell a kid.”
“He’s doing great, honestly,” Luna assured her. “Believe me. I know it’s hard to believe. I had a hard time accepting it from the doctors, too. I was nervous. But you should come by the house and see him in a few days, when he’s gotten a little more rest. You’ll see. He’s been talking and joking around.”
Mila’s face screwed up. “Serge? Talking and joking around?”
Luna laughed. “Oh, right. Yeah, I know. He’s different at home than at the diner.”
Mila nodded. “Yeah, I guess so. I don’t think I’ve ever heard him say a whole sentence to anybody but Grace.” Her face lit up with understanding. “Oh, but that makes sense! Because she’s his family. And so are you.”
Luna nodded, unable to speak for a moment around the lump in her throat.
Mila, in the way that young teenage girls were so good at, went right on without noticing. “So, wait…if you’re their granddaughter, how come you haven’t been around Valentine Bay visiting? And are you going to be coming back more now?”
Luna opened her mouth to give an answer before realizing she didn’t actually have one. The silence hung heavily in the air for a long moment.
“Don’t worry kid. She won’t give me an answer to that one, either,” came a voice from over Luna’s shoulder.
Luna turned and saw Connor, a wide smart-ass grin spread across his face. She groaned. “Trust me, smart guy. As soon as I know, you’ll know.”
He laughed. “I can live with that, I guess. If I have to.”
“Oh, look, they’re lighting the tree,” Abby said, pointing to the middle of the square.
“There’s Gran!” exclaimed Mila.
A heavily bundled Mrs. Valentine walked to the microphone stand that had been set up in front of the towering tree, a handsome young muscle-bound man with penetrating dark eyes and thick black hair trailing along behind her.
Luna turned and whispered to Connor, “And I assume that’s Fernando?”
He grinned and whispered back, “A safe assumption, I think.”
Mrs. Valentine tapped on the microphone a few times, sending electronic feedback screeching through the crowd. She leaned forward and began to speak into the mic regally, as if she didn’t even notice the high-pitched shriek from the microphone.
Maybe, Luna thought with a smile, she didn’t. Maybe it was a good lesson in pressing forward regardless of what other people thought, or outside forces trying to slow you down. Just do your own thing.
“First of all, I want to wish a very merry Christmas to everyone here tonight. We’re a small community, Valentine Bay. But a close-knit one. And it’s wonderful to see so many familiar faces in the crowd, so beautifully lit by the colors of the tree lights.”
She looked up from her cards at that, her eyes searching the crowd. After a moment during which nothing much happened, she leaned forward to the microphone again and spoke archly. “Well, apparently some people aren’t listening for their cues.”
Just then, the massive tree in the center of the square sprang to colorful life behind her, and the entire crowd exhaled in awe.
“Yes,” Mrs. Valentine said, her words magnified and strong. “Imagine how much more impactful that moment would’ve been had it happened at the correct time.”
The crowd chuckled, and the speech continued, but Luna wasn’t paying attention to the words anymore. Instead, she was looking around at the beautiful and familiar faces, lit so beautifully by the multicolored lights shining from the stunning Christmas tree in the square.
It was home. This place was home, and these people were home.
She turned back to Connor, but he wasn’t looking out at the many faces in the crowd. He was only looking at one. Hers. And the look on his face took her breath away.
