REBECCA’S POV
By eight-thirty I had stopped circulating and started watching.
There is a specific point in every party I have built where my job changes shape. The first two hours are about motion, greeting, connecting, making sure no one stands alone too long, and making sure the room never dips below its own temperature. The second half is different. The second half is about standing still enough, in exactly the right place, to see what the room does when it thinks no one is measuring it.
I found my place near the far end of the fireplace, glass in hand, and I watched.
Edmund moved through his own birthday party the way he moved through every room that mattered to his career, easy, unhurried, generous with his attention in a way that read as warmth and was, underneath it, disciplin
