Page 113 of Just One More Thing

“Nah.”

“They could?—“

“They won’t.”

“Jake.”

“Mo. Your grandmother is inside a basket on a scooter being driven by her best friend, who has had, at last count, three cups of spiked punch. There’s no intervention that ends well.”

She stares at the scooter completing its second lap. “I hope you’re right,” she says. “Granny’s scheduled to get her cast off in a few weeks.”

A few weeks.

Hattie waves at us as they pass.

I wave back.

“Don’t encourage them,” Mo says.

“I’m establishing trust in case we need to negotiate later.”

She looks at me, then laughs. “I’ll be right back.”

“I’ll be here.”

The scooter makes it one more lap before Bethany steps into its path with both hands up and the expression of a woman who has ended bigger threats.

Miss Hattie stops.

Maddy points at her. “You’re a party poop.”

“I can live with that,” Bethany says.

I see Mo walking toward Willard, watching everything from his bench. Chip is nowhere to be seen, probably smart enough to avoid tonight.

She extends her hand and says something that makes him look up. He looks at it. Looks at the dance floor. Then takes her hand.

The band starts the next song with something older, disco-ish. Mo leads him onto the floor. At first, people make room because he’s Willard. Because he’s older. Because they think this is going to be sweet.

It’s not sweet.

It’s spectacular.

Willard, it turns out, has moves.

The man dances like he used to close down rooms and still remembers exactly how it’s done. His hat tips back. His feet find the beat like they’ve been waiting on it all night.

Mo’s face is pure delight.

The whole crowd shifts to watch. Not in the way people watch someone embarrass themselves. In the way they watch something unexpected and perfect, the kind of thing you tell someone about tomorrow and hope they believe you.

Mrs. Kravitz gives him a ten without hesitation.

Willard laughs like I’ve never seen him do before.

Mo did that. She walked over to a man who spends most nights sitting with memory, held out her hand, and gave him a piece of himself back.

The song ends, and the applause that follows is loud enough to make Willard give a small bow. Mo walks him back to his bench, and he says something to her before she leaves him there. Whatever it is makes her hug him.