Page 119 of Soft
"The negotiation was handled professionally.” I skipped over the family bit of the talk. If I thought of it too much, I’d lose what little calm I had.
"That's not a no," Jake pointed out.
Mama Bellport, who’d managed to disappear in the chaos, returned with two bottles and Maddox behind her carrying a collection of glasses nestled in the crook of his arm.
"Juice for those who need it," she said, setting a ceramic pitcher beside the bottles. "We don't make anyone drink who doesn't want to, and we don't make anyone explain why. Those are the rules." She said it without looking at anyone in particular and with authority.
The glasses went around. Champagne for most, juice for most of the athletes, who had early practices the next day. I took juice for myself as well.
The table quieted when Royce stood, glass in hand. "To Paxton and Grizzly. To the announcement that's going to make certain other companies are very uncomfortable. And to the city that bet on both of you first."
Everyone raised their glasses. The sound of it, the small collective ring in a room full of people who meant it when they said they were happy for us, felt amazing.
Daddy's hand found mine under the table. He squeezed it twice, reassuring me yet again that he was in this with me.
“I love you,” I whispered.
He pressed a kiss to my temple. “Love you too, baby.”
Dessert was pecan pie and tarts with loads of whip cream. I tried to stick to one, but everyone’s encouragement, I got a helping of both. There were zero regrets after trying them out. I didn’t know how anyone could choose.
Jake had moved seats at some point during the conversation and was now beside Paxton’s dad, who I now called Pops too, the pair in what appeared to be an animated debate. Pops looked like he was enjoying himself thoroughly, and Jake looked seconds away from jumping out of his chair and performing some type of acrobatic move. It wouldn’t be the first time he needed to get energy out that way.
"He's going to be terrible for Jake," Maddox said, from across the table.
"Actually, he'll be wonderful for our boy. Someone who can keep up with his chaos is a gift," Leon said.
I watched Pops gesture broadly with his hands. Jake nodded with great conviction, and I could see the formation of an unexpected friendship.
"Paxton’s dad," Royce said, settling beside me with a glass of dark liquor, "is a genuinely remarkable person. I don’t think I’ve met anyone like him before."
"He really is," I agreed.
"He told my mother within the first minutes of his arrival that her fern looked happy."
"She talks to it, right?" I guessed.
"She does talk to it," Royce confirmed. "She’s always talked to her plants. Swears it makes a huge difference.”
“I guess in this case it did.” Our gazes moved down to the woman we were discussing.
Mama Bellport was at the head of the table, in conversation with Kenneth, her hands animated, her face open. Her husband sat beside her with a peaceful expression, as if everything and everyone around him was just how it was meant to be.
This is what my parents could have been like had they taken the time to care. Had they been less judgmental and more understanding, we could have built a community full of love too.
I had spent a long time on the outside of things. Looking around the table, I realized I was no longer watching. I’d become part of it all.
Because this was what Bellport embodied. A table with room for everyone.
"You're somewhere else," Daddy said quietly, close to my ear.
"I'm right here," I said.
He looked at me for a moment. Then he nodded once, reading whatever he found in my face, and turned back to the table.
Jake had launched into something new. I could tell by the way Maddox was already covering his eyes.
"The thing about Geraldine," Jake said, "is that he was never supposed to be at the event in the first place?—"
