Chapter Fifty-Two
On my way
JT had sent the text, but Ali was still sweating over whether she’d get back in time for their date.
The dinner was at seven and it was already six, and she hadn’t heard from JT again to say she’d made it.
There was no text saying she was on her way to meet her or to pick her up, and Ali’s brain was getting the better of her.
She checked the temperature for the second time in ten minutes.
It hadn’t changed from epically freezing.
She stared at her closet. A lot of her house might still be in boxes, but her clothes were put away, thanks to the new dresser JT had assembled for her.
She paused with her hand on the drawer pull.
Everywhere she looked in the room she saw reminders of JT.
From the furniture she’d driven Ali to buy in her parents’ van, to the dresser she’d assembled, to the bed where they’d spent the night together.
Every single thing had JT attached to it.
If JT didn’t show up to their date she would be surrounded by reminders of her.
What a stupid thing, to have allowed JT to worm her way into Ali’s home and heart.
When JT went back to her normal life, wherever that was, Ali would be stuck staring at walls and furniture and her own bed, and all of it would make her think of JT.
She flipped through her closet, looking for the perfect thing to wear.
The inn was fancy, but New-Hampshire-in-December fancy.
People looked nice, like they made an effort, but still understood it was nineteen degrees outside and would be colder later.
Ali wanted to look amazing. She and JT hadn’t had a real date yet and she wanted to make an impression.
But that sounded increasingly stupid the longer she went without hearing from JT.
What if she got all dressed up and JT got stuck in traffic or bailed on her completely?
People at the inn would know. They’d see that she was there alone, and they’d feel bad for her or text their friends about it. It would be completely embarrassing.
No. She wasn’t going to think like that.
She was going to get dressed up however she fucking wanted and eat amazing food and not think about the possibility that JT would stand her up.
Other than being a little weird during the snow sculpture event, JT hadn’t given her any reasons to doubt her. Ali was being insecure for no reason.
She selected a dress that made her feel good.
No, not good, she felt hot and sexy, and if people were going to stare at her with JT, she was going to give them a damn good reason.
She’d worn her hair up in most of the contests to keep it out of the food or to make it easier to tuck under a hat, so she left it down.
She let it fall in soft waves around her face and admitted that she looked amazing.
She wasn’t the homecoming queen anymore. She wasn’t the town’s golden girl married to the golden boy. She was something else. Not worse—different.