Page 18 of Just Let Go

“We’re celebrating, Grady,” Gus said from the other end of the table.

“Celebrating?” Grady should at least pretend to care. Who knows? Maybe playing nice with this group would earn him credit with the judge.

“Quinn bought the flower shop downtown.” Beverly reached for his plate. He handed it over and glanced at Quinn, who sat with her hands in her lap, unmoving.

“It’s not that big of a deal,” she said.

“It is too.” Gus leaned toward her. “It’s what you’ve been waiting for.”

“I’ll help you, Beverly.” Quinn grabbed the stack of plates from across the table and disappeared into the kitchen.

“She’s very modest.” Beverly smiled at Grady.

“Well, we’re all proud of her,” the judge said. “We can’t help it if we want to brag on our girl.”

“That’s right,” Gus said, then called out—this time louder—“You hear that, Quinn? We’re all proud of you!”

“That’s great, Dad,” she called back.

She returned a few seconds later, following Beverly, who carried a cake that looked like it had, at one point, had candles in it. It was an odd way to celebrate something that wasn’t a birthday, but then, nothing about this town seemed normal to him.

Quinn set a stack of small plates on the table, and Beverly began slicing the cake. She handed Grady the first piece.

“Bev, he probably doesn’t eat cake,” the man sitting across from him said.

“Of course he does, Calvin,” Beverly said.

Calvin.Grady would try to remember.

Pete always told him he was terrible with names.“It offends people, you know, that you can’t remember any of their names. I mean, Jerrica has worked for you for two years and you still call her Jennifer.”

“Jerrica is a weird name,”Grady had said.“It’s hard to remember.”

“Not the point. These people work tirelessly for you. A little gratitude goes a long way.”

“I show my gratitude in their paychecks,”Grady told him, but judging by the look on Pete’s face, his manager disagreed.

Why hadn’t Pete called him back?

“You do eat cake, don’t you?” Beverly’s question pulled Grady back to the present.

“He probably does.” The judge leaned back in his chair. “He’s not the kind of athlete who buys into that whole ‘my body is a temple’ thing. This one puts whatever he wants in his body.” Helet out a laugh, the kind of laugh that got right under Grady’s skin.

Grady reached over and took the cake from Beverly. “My body is a well-oiled machine, ma’am. But it doesn’t mind a little sugar now and then.”

“Good, because it’d be a shame to miss out on Dandy’s cake.” She went back to cutting. “You probably don’t know Dandy’s since you’re not from here, but it’s a local bakery, just across the street from Quinn’s flower shop.” She flashed Quinn a smile and handed her a plate. “Oh, you’ll find it when you’re downtown this week. Judge told us about your community service.”

Nothing like calling out the elephant in the room. Again.

“About that.” Grady turned his attention to the judge. “Wondering if I could have a word with you later about my, uh... sentence?”

Could he call it a sentence? It was unlike any court proceeding he’d ever had.

The judge stuck his fork in the cake and broke off a good chunk.“I don’t see that we have much to talk about, Mr. Benson. And I don’t talk business at family dinner.”

Familydinner? This was the strangest “family” he’d ever seen.

“Judge, give the kid a break.” Gus swallowed his bite and tossed a pointed look across the table.

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