Page 178 of ClickBack

“Mine,” Jarrett says. “You should’ve asked about that, too.”

By the time Denise wins, Ronan is trying to arrange another game and Nico is questioning whether she has used this particular set before. She tells him he can bring his own next time. I stay for another round because I want to see what she does when she knows I am watching.

The music gets louder after we push our chairs back. Terrence sings over an old record until Bellamy tells him she would like to hear the man she selected.

“You have him right here,” he says.

“Then let me appreciate the recording.”

Jacqueline reaches for the speaker controls before they can settle in for a proper argument. Denise recognizes the next song and gets up. Bellamy joins her, finds the wrong count, and keeps moving with enough confidence that I almost follow her instead of the music.

“Bellamy,” her mother says.

“I was anticipating.”

“You were wrong early,” Denise tells her.

I laugh from my chair. Bellamy points at me, warning me not to enjoy this too much, which makes it worse.

Then “Cuff It” starts. Nina puts her cup down. Jacqueline moves out from behind the table. Bellamy holds out her hand to me.

“Come on.”

I go before I can decide whether I remember all the steps. Nina is beside me, Bellamy on my other side. Jacqueline knows the song well enough to keep singing while she corrects her daughter’s turn. Denise gives up trying to make anybody do it properly and starts laughing.

Bellamy bumps my hip. I lose the step, laugh too loudly, and wait for the little correction inside me to make me lower my voice.

Nina catches my hand and pulls me into the next turn.

For a moment, I see the girl in the crown photograph with her face turned toward somebody beyond the camera. I have spent so much time wishing I could tell her what came next. Tonight I want to remember what made her look that way first.

Bellamy calls my name because I have missed another turn. I catch up, still laughing. Nobody asks me to quiet down.

Across the roof, Jarrett is sitting with Javon. His brother is talking. Jarrett is looking at me.

I hold his gaze through the next step. His expression changes, slowly enough that I can enjoy being responsible for it. Then I turn with the women and give him something else to look at.

Bellamy sees me. “Oh, you meant that.”

“Keep up. Your mother is watching.”

She laughs and nearly misses the turn again.

We dance through two more songs, stopping between them for the margaritas Nina keeps pouring. The lime has made a liar out of everybody at this table. Each glass tastes harmless until I get up again.

“I should eat something else,” I say, reaching for a chip.

Bellamy slides the guacamole toward me and takes one herself. Jacqueline has her glass in one hand and is using the other to make Terrence settle a dispute about a party they attended thirty years ago. Denise is laughing too hard to help either of them. Even Nina has abandoned her careful little pours.

I have been generous with myself tonight. The drinks, the dancing, a dress I bought because I wanted to be seen in it. When Denise reaches for my hand, I finish the chip and go with her.

By the time I return to Jarrett, my dress is warm against my back and I have stopped caring whether every strand of my hair is where I put it. He watches me cross the roof. I stop between his knees and straighten the edge of his collar with one finger.

“You weren’t listening to your brother,” I tell him.

Javon looks over. “Thank you.”

“I heard him,” Jarrett says.