Page 88 of Terms and Traditions

“I’m sure I can come up with something.” He leaned towards me, probably to kiss me, but I’d never know since a distinctive throat clearing that could only be Juliet interrupted us from behind. Right, we had an audience.

Warmth flooded my cheeks, but I laughed sheepishly, motioning towards them. “Sorry. Ladies, this is Nash. Nash, these are my friends. Liz, you know. Juliet, our resident storm cloud, and Paisley, our hobbit and literary genius.”

“It’s a pleasure. I’ve heard a lot about you,” Nash said warmly, nodding. “You’re Myles Delavan’s wife, right?” he asked Juliet.

Juliet visibly softened at her husband’s name. “Yup.”

“And you married Greyson Satterfield, yeah?” he said to Paisley.

She laughed. “Did you give him a cheat sheet, Steph?”

“Nah, she just talks about y’all that much.” He smiled at me, dimples and all, melting my insides like butter. Darn those dimples.

“Did the guys come up, too?” I asked, shifting the conversation away from myself and giving my face a chance to cool its Sahara Desert temperatures.

“Yeah, Ryan kidnapped them to show them something downstairs. I heard rumours of a garage and a motorcycle…” Liz said.

Emmett growled and stalked away, thumping down the stairs. “Ryan Jacobs, I swear if you touch that thing—”

“Serves him right,” Nash crowed.

Emmett and Danielle might be more introverted compared to Ryan and Kelsi, but they sure knew how to throw a party. Light jazz music crooned in the background, the TV fire flickered, the Christmas tree still twinkled with lights, the table groaned with the platters of appetizers and snacks, and despite the abundance of new faces added to the group, nothing felt weird or awkward.

Particularly after our first ice-breaker game—two truths and a lie.

Nana stared Ryan dead in the face, her red lips twitching as she rattled off her three facts. “I never cried during the movie Up, I had a lovely chat with Grace Kelly when she visited New York City in 1959, and I had a Japanese pen pal as a teenager.”

She was remarkably well prepared for a woman who’d had no warning about this game. But she was Charmain Russo Addams. Should I really have been surprised? She was prepared for everything.

“Aha!” Ryan leapt from the couch, pointing at her. “The first one has to be a lie. No one doesn’t cry through Up unless they’re a psychopath. Which, you don’t strike me as.”

Kelsi snickered. “Nice save, babe.”

From where I was curled up next to Nash on the loveseat, I shook with silent laughter. This was so much better than what Kelsi hoped for. I knew the answer, of course, but Nana was sneaky. I’d give her that. Ryan wouldn’t know what hit him.

“Well?” Ryan grinned with the air of a man fully confident in his reasoning. Too bad he was about to be outsmarted by my octogenarian mastermind of a grandparent. “I have my doubts about the other ones, but—”

“You calling me a liar, sunny boy?” Nana raised a feathered eyebrow.

Ryan’s eyes went dinner-plate wide. “Eh… no, ma’am, just… questioning the sheer… expansive experience of the life you’ve lived.”

Nana cackled. “Oh, you’re smooth.” She shot me a wink then dropped the bomb. “I never cried through Up is true.”

Everyone gasped.

Ryan blinked at her. “But… you don’t have the eyes of a psychopath.”

I couldn’t hold it in any longer and burst into loud snorting laughter, clapping a hand over my mouth. “I’m sorry… sorry,” I wheezed, trying to control my hysterics. “She’s never seen it.”

“What?” Ryan demanded, glancing between us.

Nana smiled impishly with a toss of her permed head. “Can’t cry over a movie you’ve never seen.” She tapped her temple with her pointer finger, nodding knowingly.

Ryan stared at her in unabashed admiration. “I want to be you when I grow up.”

“Looks like you’ll be waiting a while.” Nana winked at him, and they shared a chummy smile.

“Then what’s the lie?” Kelsi asked, eyes wide. “Please tell me you did meet Grace Kelly.”