CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR - LIZ
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
LIZ
“Breathe. Just breathe, Liz.” Liz leaned over her knees and covered her face. She was breathing heavily and talking to herself. This was not a good start for the night.
“Liz? . . . Liz, you okay?” Rose’s voice carried past the locked bathroom door followed by a knock. “Liz?”
“I’m okay,” Liz said, managing to sound convincing enough. At least to her own ears. Liz’s mother would have been able to hear the slightly shrill note playing in her words, but probably not her sixteen-year-old sister.
“It’s just, you’ve been in there a while. Josh is going to be here soon, and you said you’d take photographs.”
Liz sat up and closed her eyes, inhaling and exhaling deeply. “I will. I just have a touch of an upset stomach.”
“Ew. TMI, sis.”
Liz almost laughed. “It’s probably the burgers from last night. I’ll be out in just a second.”
“Okay. Good thing you have two bathrooms because I need to touch up my face.” She scrunched her face. “And I don’t want to go in that bathroom after you.”
Liz stood on shaky legs and walked over to the mirror to inspect her reflection. She barely recognized herself. Rose had done her hair and helped with her make-up. She was wearing her favorite stud cubic zirconia earrings that perfectly complemented the rhinestone neckline of her dress. “You can do this,” she whispered to herself. “You’ve got this.” Turning toward the door, she opened it and found Rose standing there, wearing the dress she’d gotten from Hidden Treasures. It had been beautiful on the rack, but it was even more gorgeous tonight, hanging off Rose’s shoulders like it was made just for her. Her hair was swept off her neck in an updo, secured by pins accented with black rhinestones. The look was dressy, but also perfectly Rose. “I thought you went to the other bathroom,” Liz said, overwhelmed by a sudden outpouring of her emotions.
Rose shrugged. “I was going to. But something told me to stay. In case you needed me. Do you?”
Maybe their mom wasn’t the only one who could read Liz’s cues.
Liz sucked in a breath. “I’m not going to lie. It’s a hard night for me.”
“I know that,” Rose said quietly. “But I’m hoping it’ll also be a wonderful night. For both of us.”
The doorbell rang and Rose’s entire face lit up. She didn’t move to go answer it just yet though. She looked torn between staying with her sister and racing to the door where her boyfriend was waiting.
Liz forced a smile. “Go ahead. I’ll get my camera.”
“Thank you.” Rose reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze. Then she squealed softly and hurried toward the front of the house.
Liz took another deep breath and then went to retrieve her camera from her bedroom dresser, noticing that her hands were shaking. She wanted this to be a good night. She did—for Rose’s sake and her own. Tonight was a milestone for her, just like when she’d driven with Melody and then Matt. She was making progress, little by little. Turning, she walked out of her bedroom and down the hall. “Hey, Josh,” she said as she entered the living room. “You look handsome in that suit.”
Josh looked down at what he was wearing and then gestured to Rose. “I don’t look half as great as Rose does. Or you,” he said, looking at Liz.
“Aww, that’s nice of you to say.” Liz liked Josh, which surprised her. “You’re going to drive the speed limit tonight, right?” she couldn’t help but ask.
“Liz.” Rose folded her arms over her chest.
“Sorry. I just need some reassurance for my own sanity.” Liz looked at Josh expectantly.
“I will drive the speed limit, make sure Rose is buckled up at all times, and only take the main roads. No backroads.”
Liz’s lips parted. This guy was impressive. “Matt’s right. He’s a keeper, Rose.”
Rose intertwined her arm with Josh’s and leaned in to him. “Okay, take your pictures so we can be on our way.”
Liz lifted her camera to her eyes and directed the happy couple on where to stand and how to position their bodies. After a dozen or so pictures, she lowered her Canon and made a shooing motion with her hands. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
Rose rolled her eyes playfully. “That’s not too hard to accomplish.”
Josh opened the front door and then paused. “Liz, your date has arrived,” he said, shaking Matt’s hand.
Liz imagined that she lit up in the same way that Rose had ten minutes earlier.
Rose pointed a finger at Matt. “Don’t drive over the speed limit. Make sure you both buckle up whenever the vehicle is in motion. Take main roads, no backroads. And don’t do anything we wouldn’t do,” she said, gesturing between Liz and Matt.
“That shouldn’t be too hard to accomplish,” Liz said, impersonating Rose’s level of sarcasm.
Rose offered back a smirk. “See you two at the prom. Take good care of her,” she told Matt.
Matt glanced over at Liz and everything inside her warmed. “Roger that.”
Liz lifted her camera and took photographs of Josh leading Rose out to his older model Mustang. She snapped pictures as they reversed out of the driveway and drove away, suppressing the urge to cry. “I can’t help thinking about the night that me, Alyssa, Melody, and Bri set out,” she told Matt quietly.
“I’d worry about you if you didn’t think about that on a night like this one.”
She turned to face him. “You would?”
“Of course. You don’t need me to validate your feelings tonight. It’s okay to feel any way you want to. And you don’t have to hide it from me.”
Liz breathed a sigh of relief. “Just hearing that makes me feel a little bit better.”
Matt nodded. “Then I’m doing something right.”
Liz held up her camera. “Can I take a few photographs of us? I have a tripod and a timer.”
“I gotta warn you, I might break your camera. I’m not very photogenic,” he said.
“Somehow I doubt that.” She punched a playful fist into his shoulder, the touch zinging through her. Stepping away, she placed her camera on its stand and set the timer. “You’ll see the red light flashing. Just be ready to smile.”
“Got it.”
Liz stepped up beside him, keeping a couple of inches of distance between them. As the red light began to flash, Matt pulled her closer and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Everything inside Liz came alive. Every single cell. Then the camera flashed for an extended moment and Liz’s mind leaped to another place and time.
It was her prom night and she, Bri, Melody, and Alyssa were posing for pictures excitedly, standing in Liz’s parents’ living room. Liz felt beautiful, maybe for the first time in her life. Her aunt had come over to do her hair and makeup. She’d just gotten her driver’s license that afternoon and she was doing the honors of chauffeuring their little group of friends to their high school gymnasium.
“Smile!” Liz’s mother had said, taking the hundredth photograph.
Alyssa swept her arm around Liz’s shoulders and the charm bracelet that she was wearing snagged on Liz’s dress. “Oh, no!” Alyssa tugged, but Liz reached out and grabbed her wrist.
“You’ll break it. Hold on.” Liz attempted to free them from each other as her mom’s camera continued to click and flash. Apparently, Liz’s mom thought the moment was worth remembering.
“I think this bracelet has a mind of its own,” Liz said.
“It’s magic, if you ask me.” Alyssa grinned. “It’s telling us we belong together. Friends for life.”
Liz finally freed her dress. “Got it! There. Phew!” She looked up at Alyssa. “We can still be friends for life, but I don’t think you want to go to the bathroom with me every time I need to pee tonight.”
Alyssa’s laughter was contagious. “To the bathroom together, yes, but I don’t want to be in the same stall.”
Liz’s mother’s camera clicked again.
“Mom. ” Liz turned to her mother. “You don’t need to capture all the moments.”
Her mother sniffled. “Prom night is one of the happiest of your life. You’ll never forget it.”
“Especially with all the pictures you’re taking,” Liz said, sarcastically. Sarcasm wasn’t really her thing, but sometimes she caught herself sounding a lot like Bri.
“Liz?”
Liz opened her eyes and looked at Matt as she struggled to take a breath.
He placed a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, you’re okay. You’re safe. You’re at your house with me. I’m not going to let anything hurt you.”
She blinked. “I don’t want to fall apart tonight. I really, really don’t.”
“Listen, if you’re not up to this, I get it. I can call one of the other deputies that I know and ask them to chaperone in my place. I can stay with you if that’s what you need.”
Liz wished she could pull the plug on this night and take that option. She’d never forgive herself if she backed out now though. This night needed to happen. “No, I want to go. I need to. I can do this.”
Matt gave a slight nod. “Yeah, you can. I’m with you one hundred percent of the way.”
“Thanks.” She blew out a shaky breath. “I hope these photographs turn out great,” she said, trying to lighten the mood that she pretty much just ruined.
“Like I said, I’m not very photogenic. But if you’re in them, I’m sure those pictures are going to be amazing.”
“Such a charmer.” She smiled sincerely now. “Okay, let’s go.” She placed her camera back in its bag and looped it over her shoulder. She wasn’t the prom’s official photographer tonight, but Christopher had mentioned that she could submit candid pictures to the school’s yearbook. Liz stepped out the door and heard Matt pull it shut behind her. Then he walked her over to the passenger side of his truck and opened the door for her.
“Hold on. I forgot.” He dipped inside and pulled out a pale-yellow corsage. “For you,” he said, straightening back to a standing position in front of her.
“Aww. You didn’t have to. This isn’t actually a date, so . . .” She trailed off, noting the brief glint of disappointment in Matt’s eyes. Who was she kidding? This night had all the makings of a date, including the sparks. “Um, thank you for the corsage. It’s beautiful.”
“It goes on your wrist. You don’t have to wear it if you don’t want to. I know you have your charm bracelet, which is way more important. I just know a lot of the kids get them for each other at prom, and I thought you should have one.”
“I want to wear it.” She held out the wrist that wasn’t wearing the bracelet. “Will you do the honors?”
Matt looked almost embarrassed, which struck her as odd. And sweet. He slid the flower on her wrist and met her gaze. “There you go.” Gesturing toward the passenger seat, he said, “Your chariot awaits.”
Liz reminded herself to stay in the moment as she stepped into his truck.
“Here we go,” Matt said as he got behind the steering wheel and cranked the engine.
“You do realize that this ride is going to be way worse for me than a driving lesson. That I might freak out, as Rose puts it, or throw up or . . .”
He reached out and touched her arm. “I know what I’m getting myself into, Liz. I always have.” With that, he faced forward and reversed out of her driveway.
What did he mean by that? By saying he always had.
As if hearing her thoughts, Matt glanced over and smiled. “It’s no secret that I like you. I don’t eat all those muffin bites for my health.”
Liz’s heart raced. “You don’t eat them all anyway. You give them away.”
“I eat half of them.” He grinned. “And I’ve always known my chances with you are slim. Like I said, I know what I’m getting into.”
“And what’s that?” she asked.
“A strictly friends relationship that I’ll always wish was more.”
Liz clutched the side door, heart racing, thoughts completely on Matt as he drove. “Any other guy probably would have moved on by now, and asked someone else out.”
Matt was driving exactly the speed limit and keeping both hands on the wheel. Liz suspected he was working hard to make sure she felt safe. He always made her feel safe, ever since the accident. “Call me an eternal optimist, but I believe one of these days, you’re going to look at me and see the man of your dreams.”
Liz understood that he was joking. At least she thought so. “Or, one of these days, you’re going to realize I’m not the woman of yours.”
“Nope.” He slid his gaze over for just a moment before returning his focus on the road. “One thing about me is that I know what I like and I never stray from it.”
“So, you like petite woman with brown hair. Glasses. The nervous type.” Liz slowly released her grip on the door’s grab bar. She pulled in a shallow breath and then another, keeping her attention on him while he kept his eyes straight ahead.
“I like the you type.”
He was laying it all out for her on this ride. Part of her wondered if it was just a distraction technique to keep her mind off the road and where they were headed. If so, it was working.
“I like you, too,” she confessed. Maybe she was working hard on distracting herself as well. “I don’t think you realize just how hard it would be to date me though.”
He glanced over. It was just for a moment and then he returned his gaze forward. “Dating me wouldn’t be a cakewalk either, trust me. I like to think the good outweighs the not-so-good though. I think that’s probably true in most relationships. And just so you’re aware, I’m not afraid of hard things.”
Liz felt a little flutter inside her chest. “Good to know.” She was glad he was facing forward so he wouldn’t see just how hard she was working to hold back a giddy grin. How could she be grinning at a time like this? She was on her way to prom, the very last place she would ever want to go.
Finally, he pulled into the parking lot for the high school gym and cut the engine.
He released his seatbelt and looked over. “We made it,” he said in a near whisper.
She rolled her lips together, wondering if she should ask the question on her mind. “Did you, um, mean what you said? Or were you just trying to distract me?”
“Did I distract you?” he asked, pulling his hand back and straightening in his seat.
She remembered to breathe. “I guess what you were saying did keep half my thoughts on you. Was it true though?”
Something about him looked suddenly vulnerable. It was a rare look for him. “Does it matter?”
“It matters to me.”
He reached for her hand, lifted it to his lips, and pressed a kiss across the back of her fingers. “I’ve always liked you, Liz. I don’t think that’s a secret. If we were to date, I would know exactly what I was getting into. I know you.” He smiled quietly at her. “Come on. Let’s go inside.”
Liz felt a whirlwind of conflicting emotions right now. She pushed her truck door open and stepped out onto the pavement, her legs akin to wet noodles in heels. In a quick second, Matt was beside her just like he’d promised he’d be tonight. Music could be heard coming from the gymnasium. The parking lot was mostly empty. Prom didn’t officially begin until seven-thirty. Chaperones were arriving first.
When Liz stepped through the gym’s door, Melody rushed her with a huge hug.
“You’re here!” she said, pulling back from the embrace to look Liz over. “And you look amazing!”
Liz looked Melody over as well. “So do you.”
“How was the trip here?”
Liz glanced over at Matt who was talking with Christopher. He’d told her he always liked her, which wasn’t a huge revelation but it was still nice to hear. “It was . . . well, we made it. I guess that’s all that really matters.”
Sadness flashed in Melody’s eyes. “We both made it this time.”
Liz looked down for a moment, pulling a deep breath into her lungs. They’d never made it to the first prom. Just the fact that they’d both gotten here felt like a small miracle. She looked back up at her friend and then around the room. “You really outdid yourself. The gymnasium looks fantastic.”
Melody smiled proudly. “It does, doesn’t it? I can’t help thinking about what I would have done differently if I were planning this event. A fairy tale theme has so much potential.”
“Maybe you’ll plan next year’s prom.” Liz looked at Melody hopefully. Some part of her was still hoping Melody would stay in Trove Isle. Her mind knew better than to hope for such things. Her heart couldn’t seem to help it though. It felt good having Melody home, like a long-lost piece of her had been put back into place. That would imply that Liz was broken without Melody, which wasn’t true. She was definitely better with her though.
“It would be difficult to plan a prom from a distance. I mean, I could if someone here was helping me carry out the decorating.” She looked at Liz. “Like you.”
“Me?” Liz laughed. “I’m not a decorator. I could perhaps volunteer to be the prom’s photographer next year. Maybe Bri will be your wingman.”
“Wow. Bri will be out this time next month.” Melody sighed as a happy smile enveloped her face, making her look even more beautiful tonight. “We’ll all have to come here together next year.”
There it was again. Melody was talking about being in Trove Isle. Liz knew it was just to visit, but there was a thread of something more there. There was just enough hope to keep Liz hanging onto her fantasy that all her friends would be together, just like the old days. All but one.