Page 30 of When the Angel Falls First

“So glad you came,” Mom greeted me with a tilt of the head. Dad gave me a curt nod, his attention shifting to Caleb.

I could tell exactly what was coming next. The good ol’ Mom and Dad act of butter us up, chew us up, and then spit us back out again. We hadn’t been there for two minutes, and I already wanted to crawl into a hole.

“Of course I’d be here.” The knot of tension in my stomach grew tighter. Who was I fooling, thinking this might be a chance to mend bridges?

“I tried to tell her not to come.” Nana Geraldine’s voice cut through us. “Because I am justover the moonabout her new bookstore.” She winked at me. “But she insisted she didn’t want to be anywhere else.”

“It’s true.” I smiled at her. “And it’s so wonderful to see you, Nana.” I wrapped my arms around her, certain she’d grown smaller since the last time I came to Snoqualmie.

She broke from my embrace. “Wait just a minute now. You haven’t introduced us to thisfineexample of a young man. You must be Caleb.”

“Indeed I am.” Caleb extended his hand, a jovial grin splitting his handsome face. “Pleasure to meet you, and happy birthday, ma’am.”

Nana shimmied her shoulders and took his hand. As soon as they touched, Nana’s face changed. Her brow furrowed, and she cocked her head to the side, looking deeply into his eyes. “Caleb, you say? I could swear…”

Her voice trailed off, and all of us stood waiting for something to happen, Caleb included. He returned her intent look, and I knew he was using his powers to scrutinize her.

Nana shook her head, as if coming out of a fog. “Never mind me. You seemed so familiar for a moment there, but that must only be because Josie has told me so many wonderful things about you.”

Thank you, Nana, for not outing me in the first five minutes.

“At least that’s one of us,” Dad grumbled.

“Champagne!” Nana shouted as a server came by with a tray. “Thank you, Michelle. Michelle here is the daughter of the neighbor down the road. Isn’t she delightful? I thought perhaps she and Fred might enjoy spending time together. He’s always so huffy, so areal ladymight help him loosen up, don’t you think?” She clucked her tongue.

“Nana!”

“Mom!”

“Mrs. Ray!”

We were all equally horrified, which seemed to be exactly Nana’s intent. She cackled as she took a glass of champagne from Michelle’s tray. “To young love!”

She gave us no choice but to toast to it.

“Young love,” we muttered withmuchless enthusiasm in reply. Except Caleb, who was full of gusto. Given his cupid status, loving love seemed to come with the territory.

“That’s the spirit!” She twisted quickly, smacking straight into Michelle and her tray of full champagne glasses.

“Nana!” I cried, being the closest and desperate to catch her before she toppled. Horrible visions of glass-shard-related injuries and ambulances and a broken hip briefly blinded me, but with a blink?—

Everything was fine.I sucked in a startled breath, blinking in shock as I tried to process what I’d just seen.

The tray was righted, and the tipping glasses tinkled on the tray as they settled back in place.

But most shocking of all, Nana remained upright.Like magic.

The rest of us had frozen in a tableau of nervous wreck—arms outstretched, horror on our faces. The only movement was our eyes as mine briefly met Mom’s with mutual panic rushing through our veins.

But everything was fine. The music continued, and we all slowly relaxed back into a normal standing position.

“That was a close one,” Dad whispered, his chest heaving up and down as the tension subsided.

“You can say that again.” Michelle took a step back, and we watched Nana continue her social rounds. “I was sure we were both going down.”

“Me, too,” I said and looked at Caleb… who did not look the least bit surprised. Of course he wasn’t surprised. It was just like the floating book and the landlord. Catastrophe once again averted thanks to my not-boyfriend-nor-lover-but-only-a-friend.

He caught me watching him and immediately his expression changed. “What luck, right?” He smiled widely. “I think I’ll have a glass of champagne myself.” He downed the whole glass in one great big gulp.

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