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It is thebestsound.
“I know,” she says, “I’m ridiculous!”
“No!” Sarah is smiling back at her, still laughing. “I like charcuterie!”
Grace takes a very deep breath and sits on a chair that’s close, but not right next to Sarah’s spot on the couch. “When Sienna called this morning I was shocked, and then I was a nervous wreck. I wasn’t expecting you yet.”
“Yet?”
She leans over and tentatively rests one hand over Sarah’s. “I’vealwayshoped you’d come, but I wasn’t expecting you until after you turned eighteen in August. I mean, that is, if you ever did come. I wasn’t assuming that you would…come.”
As if Grace has just noticed I’m also in the room, she looks to me with hopeful eyes, and I introduce myself. And I don’t know what it is about this chick, but she gives off something, a calming, nurturing vibe. I’m not making sense in my own head, but I feel like I don’t have to worry because she’s around. I’m thinking Grace Dawson can handle this.
Sarah takes a piece of cheese off the board, but I can tell she’s too nervous to eat. I, however, am not. Grace gestures to the board again. “I needed something to do with my hands for the past two hours. Making rosettes out of salami slices is more helpful than you’d think.”
Just when she’s about to say something else, the doorbell rings. Grace gets up, looks to Sarah apologetically and says, “Let me just get rid of whoever this is.”
Looking cool as a cucumber, Sarah reassures her, “It’s ok, really,” but then looks to me with bugged-out eyes once Grace is out of sight. “What do you think?”
I offer, “She seems really nice?”
“Aunt Gracie!”
“Libs! Oh my God, I totally forgot about today. I’m such an idiot.”
A voice says, “Are you all right, Grace? You look pale.”
“Wait, Libby…Now isn’t the best—”
“Who areyou?”
This kid wearing a dancing leotard in a neon tie-dyed print has barged into the house and she’s looking right at me. “Um, I’m Liam.”
“Nice to meet you, Liam,” she says.
“Dial the flirt down a notch,” Grace says with a smile. There’s a woman with her when she comes back into the living room.
And then we’re both baffled and blurting out, “Sienna?”
“No,” the woman answers with a smile, while the little girl simultaneously says, “That’s my aunt. My mom is Sky.”
“Skylar Hale,” she comes closer, “and this is my daughter, Olivia.”
Before either of us can get in a hello, or wrap our heads around the confusion, Olivia launches into a commentary on how her last name used to be different from Sky’s,but, she emphasizes,not anymore!Sarah is smiling, while Grace and her friend are looking like they’ve tried to stop this crazy train before, but have concluded it’s best just to let her run out of steam on her own.
“I was the bridesmaid. Do you know what that is?” she asks Sarah.
And Sarah must be feeling more herself, because she plays along. “Kind of, but I’ve neverbeena bridesmaid.”
“Oh, it’s abigjob.”
“Olivia,” her mom says with a subtle warning in her tone.
But this kid is on a roll and Sarah’s not helping, as she’s nodding her head, encouraging her to go on. “I had to pick out dresses, I had to throw a party.” And she’s a pistol, looking to Sarah as if she’s got to break it down for her when she clarifies, “It’s called a bridal shower.”
“Oh, that sounds like fun.”
“It wassomuch fun.” Looking between me and Sarah, she asks, “Is he your boyfriend?”
