“Enjoying yourself?” Linda asked mildly. She held out her glass for the bartender to refill her chardonnay, not caring, or noticing, that she’d just cut in front of five people. Clarke knew that as the hostess of the party, it was her prerogative. Just as he also knew his mother would have cut in line regardless of whose party it was.

It never occurred to her that the Honorable Judge West would be treated with anything but deference to the point of worship. Though, in reality, most people fell in line. As a boy, his childhood friends had never spoken above a whisper in her presence. Even his teachers had spoken in almost hushed tones when they’d called his mother into the office for yet another we have some concerns about Clarke’s behavior in the classroom talk. It hadn’t gotten better as he’d gotten older. Girlfriends, colleagues, even his own father—especially his own father—acted as though Linda West’s word was law, her agenda manifest destiny.

Everyone, except for Clarke himself.

Well, and Audrey. Even as a four-foot little girl with an ever-present bow in her hair, it had never seemed to occur to Audrey that his terrifying mother should be treated differently than her friends, her own mother, or her imaginary friends. It was one of the things he’d always liked best about Audrey. She simply saw people as people.

“Enjoying myself immensely,” Clarke answered his mother as the two of them stepped to the side of the bar.

“Audrey seems to be in her element,” Linda said, taking a sip of her wine.

Knowing that any mention of Audrey usually came with a side order of insult, Clarke scanned the room for his “fiancée.”

Even if she hadn’t been the only woman in the room wearing white, he’d have seen her right away. Not just because he always seemed to have a sixth sense for his best friend’s presence, but because now, as always, everyone and everything seemed to revolve around her. Audrey had always been the very opposite of a wallflower, the center of attention, often in the literal center of every room. She didn’t set out to have all eyes on her; all eyes just seemed to find her.

He smiled as the sound of her happy laugh reached him fifteen feet away, even with the conversation of fifty-something people buzzing around them.

“How nice that her parents could fly out for the celebration,” Linda said.

Clarke didn’t know where Audrey’s father had disappeared to, but Audrey’s mom was right by her side, an older version of her daughter, with the same bright smile and friendly presence.