Page 50 of His Wall

It was not sadness. It was something that lived next door to sadness and did not have my permission to be there. I had been standing at the back of this exact picture for two years. I had been the man at the corner of every Hale family photo, the Uncle Jules who arrived with too many gifts, stayed too late, and went home alone.

Tonight I had a hand on someone's back.

I glanced at Claire.

She was a foot from me, at the bar. She had her wine in her hand. She was watching Declan and Thea. Her face had gone soft. She caught herself. Her eyes flicked to mine. Her face smoothed, fast.

I did not say anything.

I took the wine out of her hand, took a sip of it and gave it back to her.

Her mouth almost moved.

I put my hand back at the small of her back.

The next hour was the gala. I introduced her to people, and she extended her hand, gave her name, made small smiles, and asked small questions back. Her hand was steady on the wineglass, and her face was warm enough to pass.

Adler from the foundation board cornered us by the canapé table. He was sixty-eight in a dinner jacket, his wife in pearls behind him. He leaned in to ask Claire about work.

My fingers pressed into her hip without my deciding it.

Claire glanced at me. I did not move my hand.

Adler's wife caught the look. She gave me a small tight smile of approval and tugged Adler away to the bar.

"That was not subtle."

"He was not subtle."

"You don't have to defend my honor at a charity gala, Julian."

"I do, actually."

She drank her wine.

We drifted to the bar at 9:15 p.m. Shoulder to shoulder. The bartender knew my order and had the whiskey poured before I asked and gave Claire a fresh wine without being told. I leaned into her ear.

"The toast is going to be five minutes or it's going to be forty-five. There's no in-between with him."

"Bet?"

"Loser buys breakfast."

She turned her head. Our faces were 6 in. apart. The chandelier light was on her cheek, the dark line at her lash was inches from my eye and her gray eyes were on mine.

"You're a billionaire."

"Then the stakes are low."

Her lips parted. Almost a sound. Almost a laugh. Her eyes darkened.

I wanted to kiss her.

I wanted to kiss her right there at the bar with two hundred people in the room and Nolan watching from 12 ft. away.

She saw me wanting to.

She turned back to the bar. She lifted her wine. She took a sip. I watched her throat when she swallowed.