I went back to my meal, pondering her obvious lie. I hoped Madison hadn’t said anything to upset her; she had a tendency to say more than she ought to, and I knew Grace had been worried about people’s reaction to her. But it also had been a long night, especially for someone who had never experienced anything like this before, so I told myself she was just tired and left it at that. It was surprising how much I was starting to care how she was.

Dessert was served a little later, and by then I could tell Grace was fading. She sat back in her seat observing but not engaging, and while she’d been doing this most of the evening, I could see fatigue written all over her. Knowing we had a long drive back to Orange County, I asked her after the dessert dishes were removed if she wanted to go.

“Only if you won’t be offending anyone by leaving so soon. And only if you don’t want to stay.”

I shook my head. “These things are all the same. Everyone will mingle for a while, drink some more … I’ll probably be doing myself a favor by leaving now.”

She smiled and nodded. “In that case, yes, I think I want to leave. Either that or else lead me to a bedroom and let me sleep.”

I laughed. “That’s not a bad idea. I think this place has eight of them; she ought to include nap time in the evenings agenda.”

“And pancakes for everyone in the morning.”

“There you go—a giant slumber party.” We laughed, and I stood and addressed the rest of the table. “We’re exhausted, and we’re going home.”

“So soon? Party’s just getting started,” Madison said in a singsong voice that revealed just how much she’d drunk that night. She waggled her eyebrows and danced a little in her seat. “You two could do a little cha-cha-cha … ” She winked.

I held out my hand to Grace to help her from her seat and rolled my eyes at Madison. “We’re not really the cha-cha-cha-ing type, Mad. But hey, don’t let us stop you.” Grace and I bade good-bye to the rest of the table and headed toward Alexis to thank her for the party and say good night.

“Thanks for coming,” she gushed as she stood and hugged us both. “Grace, honey, welcome to the crowd, I hope you had fun. Be good to her, now, Jack.” She smirked and wagged her finger in mock admonishment. “You could redeem yourself with this, you know. No more lovin’ and leavin.”