Page 97 of What Remains of Grace

The crew all nodded solemnly like a group of guilty toddlers.

“Oh my God,” Jenna said, laughing. “Fine. One cookie each.”

“Too late,” Travis admitted. “I’m at . . . four?”

Jenna shook her head. “If I find a single crumb on the floor—”

“You won’t,” Travis said proudly. “We inhaled them.”

“And there is the reason I bring fruit trays,” she said.

Cole, passing by at that moment, smirked. “Because we’re half-starved.”

“Because you act half-starved,” Jenna shot back.

He held her gaze for a second too long, warm and a little awestruck, before clearing his throat and pretending to check the alignment of the chalkboard as if it mattered.

* * *

Later, as the evening subsided and the initial rush thinned, Jenna stepped out onto the sidewalk to cool off. The warm, salty air from the gulf rolled in, carrying the distant hum of voices still gathered outside.

Cole followed a moment later, hands in his pockets. “You surviving?” he asked.

“Barely,” she teased. “Emmie’s on a power trip. The crew is stealing cookies. My dad has adopted three strangers. It’s chaos.”

“Good chaos.”

She nodded. “Really good.”

He studied her face like he was trying to understand something in it. “Your parents look happy.”

“They are. It’s nice.”

He nodded again, eyes soft. “You look . . .” He paused, searching. “You look happy too.”

A sharp awareness swept through her. “I am,” she admitted. “Tonight . . . feels right.”

“Yeah,” he said quietly. “It does.”

Emmie chose that moment to fling open the door, pink dress swirling dramatically. “Okay, romantic slow-motion moment on the sidewalk, break it up. We need Aunt Jenna for more photos.”

“Emmie,” Jenna groaned.

“What?” Emmie said. “I have a brand to maintain. By the way, Mr. Bennett, I think your jaw left a hole in the floor. Can you have the guys come by next week and fix that?”

Cole choked. “I— what—”

Jenna gave Emmie a death glare. Emmie only winked and trotted back inside, victorious. Cole rubbed the back of his neck. “She’s . . . observant.”

“That’s one word for it.”

He smiled at her then. A deep, warm, true smile. And Jenna felt something settle deep inside her chest. Something that felt like belonging. Something that felt like bravery.

Maybe she couldn’t control what she might lose, but she could decide not to walk away from what she had.

Tonight, she wasn’t running. She wasn’t hiding.

She was here.