Page 742 of End Game

“I saw the engagement pictures,” she explains after she steps back. “I still follow you.”

Hannah gives her a look. “You stalk him.”

“I follow him.”

“Same thing.”

Dex steps up beside me. “Do I get introduced, or are we pretending I'm decorative?”

Abigail laughs.

I feel something in my chest loosen again.

“Hannah, Abigail, this is Dex.”

Dex holds up his left hand. “Husband, apparently.”

“We know who you are,” Hannah tells him.

“From my illustrious music career?”

Abigail smiles. “Mostly from Micah's pictures.”

Dex puts a hand over his heart. “That's somehow more flattering.”

They laugh at him.

He beams.

And I realize that was what I wanted most from this interaction.

Not explanations.

Not apologies on behalf of anyone else.

Just this.

Them meeting him.

Seeing him.

Being kind.

Dex gets every traditional reception moment he asked for.

We cut the cake.

He gets frosting on my nose despite promising he wouldn't.

I put some on his cheek in return, and he announces loudly enough for his mother to hear that this feels vaguely sexual.

She tells him she's aware he's had sex before.

Dex nearly drops the cake knife.

The DJ takes over once dinner is finished, and after the tables are cleared from the center of the room, I catch the sound cue I've been waiting for.

Dex doesn't.