Amelia finally sighed, pushing her glass over to Clara. “Here, you need this one too.”
Clara reached for the glass as a low voice said from the doorway, “Good thing I brought the big guns.”
Maisie glanced at Hayes, finding him holding a few bottles of wine and double chocolate ice cream. Her heart melted. She jumped up and met him with a hug. “I think you just got hotter. Thank for you bringing this.”
He winked. “It’s about time someone else took care of everyone around here.”
She smiled, and her heart warmed further when Hayes said to Clara, “I heard nothing. I saw nothing. Just drink and worry about it all tomorrow.”
Clara gave him a small smile and then gestured across from her, to the spot where Pops used to sit, “Well, are you just going to stand there or get drunk with us?”
Hayes’s gaze locked on Maisie as he took a seat, and Maisie smiled after him. Death had caused them to have terrible, heartbreaking gatherings at this table. Life brought them ecstatic moments here. But as Maisie slid onto Hayes’s lap, and he locked his arm around her, she knew these sweet, happy, middle parts mattered the most.
* * *