say. I don’t want to keep secrets from Charlie, but I also don’t want Wes to know I’m upset.
“I’m sorry she got stood up,” Olivia ad-libs. “And that Wes wasn’t free to step in.”
Thankfully, Eastridge isn’t far from Nonna’s, so I’m spared any further conversation about Wes and Laurel. As we get out of the car, I take a deep breath. Since the Fab Four is back together, I’m going to have to get used to being around Wes, no matter how bad it sucks.
I guess this fall at LSU will look a little different than Olivia described.
Olivia laces our fingers together and squeezes my hand. We’re a few paces behind Charlie. “I am so sorry,” Olivia says quietly. “I really thought they were over.”
“I saw what I wanted to see,” I say. “He was being a good friend and I made it into more than it was.”
Charlie stops and points to a big palm tree in the corner. “That’s the one that almost killed me.”
The plant is missing half its leaves, and the pot has a huge crack down the side where dirt is dribbling out onto the floor. “It looks like it put up a good fight,” I say.
“I think every plant from the shop is here,” Olivia says as we walk through the entrance to the club. It definitely feels like we’re inside a garden.
We walk into the main ballroom and it’s packed. There’s a band set up on a stage with a dance floor in front of them. Round tables with white tablecloths are scattered through the room, and the buffet runs along the back wall. Each table has fresh pink and white flowers in the center, and there are lots of blown-up pics of my grandmother through the years propped on easels everywhere I turn.
Nonna and Papa stand near the entrance, where there’s a huge line of people waiting to tell her happy birthday. As much as she likes to grumble about the attention, I can tell she’s happy everyone is here.
We move through the room, looking for the tables set aside for the family, and almost every person we pass stops us to say hello and ask, “Which one do you belong to?” By the time we make it to the other side, I’ve been hugged and kissed and pinched on the cheek enough to last me a lifetime.
Uncle Ronnie and Aunt Patrice are on the dance floor doing some weird mash-up of grinding and swing dancing, and there’s a small crowd off to the side.
“That saying dance like no one is watching should be dance when no one is watching,” Charlie says. “And how can they even dance like that to old-people music?”
Olivia and I stare at them with horrified expressions. It’s too early in the night to be moving around like that, especially with this crowd of grandmas watching.
“Let’s get some food,” Olivia says.
“I’m not sure I have an appetite after witnessing that display,” I answer as she drags me to the buffet line.
To no one’s surprise, most of the food spread out on the table in front of us is Italian. There are big pans of lasagna, and spaghetti and meatballs, and mini muffulettas and pasta salad. And while it’s all pretty good, it doesn’t compare to my grandmother’s cooking.
We sit down at the table with Jake, Sara, Graham, and Banks. As hard as I try to not look for Wes and Laurel, that’s exactly what I find myself doing.
They’re sitting nearby, just separate from our group. Several times, I’ve seen her sitting at a table by herself, scrolling through her phone, while Wes hangs out with Charlie near the dance floor.
Neither of them seems as aware of each other as I am of them.
Thankfully, Nonna pulls us out on the dance floor as soon as we’re done eating, and the band starts playing songs I actually know. I finally quit worrying about Wes and Laurel and just enjoy dancing with Nonna.
And Nonna can move! It’s not long before the lights are dimmed and everyone crowds that small wooden square. We dance and dance, having long ago abandoned our shoes to the pile right off the edge of the stage. I’ve never been so glad to be dateless. I take pictures and short videos throughout the night and send them to Mom and Margot.
My grandparents dance to the same song they had their first dance to at their wedding, and there isn’t a dry eye in the room.
It’s getting late, and