before I arrived.”
I didn’t know what to say.
Edward continued quietly. “You don’t need a date to prove anything to Max. You don’t need his approval. And you don’t need mine either.”
For the first time that evening, I felt the tension leave my shoulders.
Then my oldest daughter appeared beside me.
“Mom?”
I crouched down. “Hey.”
She looked toward the reception room. “Why did Dad say you needed someone?”
I paused before answering.
“Sometimes adults say things when they’re upset,” I told her. “But what someone says about you doesn’t decide your value.”
She thought about that for a moment.
“But we wanted you here,” she said.
I smiled. “That’s what matters to me.”
She hugged me, and suddenly the entire reason I had brought Edward seemed unimportant.
Later, Max approached me in the hallway.
“So what happens with you and Edward?”
I looked at him.
“You really
