Later that night, Paige gave a toast.
I did not ask her to.
In fact, I was terrified when she stood up and tapped her glass.
Every guest turned toward her with the same expression: Here we go.
Paige noticed.
For once, she did not punish the room for expecting the worst from her.
She simply breathed.
“I promise I’ll keep this short,” she said. “Because today is not about me.”
A few people chuckled nervously.
Paige looked at me.
“I spent a long time thinking my sister had everything I wanted. Grace. Approval. A good heart. A man who looks at her like she hung the moon.”
Ethan raised his glass toward me, and everyone laughed softly.
Paige continued.
“But today I realized Clara didn’t have everything. She just protected what she had better than I did. And even when I tried to ruin her day, she gave me a place in it.”
