POV: Kesley

Dinner was quiet in the good way. Jess's mother ate slowly at the far end of the table, speaking little, but the rigid set of her shoulders had loosened by the second course.

She accepted seconds when Sandy insisted on serving her with the solemn authority of a six-year-old who had appointed herself hostess.

The kids asked to be their grandma and she smiled brightly, nodding her head with teary eyes.

Leo watched the whole thing with the expression he wore when something pleased him that he hadn't anticipated.

He caught my eye across the table and something passed between us, warm and wordless, the language of two...