Eleanor crossed the ballroom the way she probably crossed every room she'd ever entered in eighty years, unhurried, certain, the crowd parting slightly around her without her seeming to notice it happening. The man beside her kept pace, a folder tucked under one arm, his expression carefully neutral in the specific way of people paid well to give nothing away.
"Noah." Eleanor's voice carried warmth even across the distance, though her eyes flicked briefly toward Ryan and Ava before landing back on us, unreadable. "And Jasmine. In person, finally, and even lovelier than the screen managed."
"Eleanor." Noah's hand didn't leave my back. "I didn't know you were coming tonight."
"I wasn't planning to." Something tightened faintly at the corner of her mouth. "But Harold had paperwork that cou
