Chapter 18
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Fiona
Sunlight spilled across my bedroom when I opened my eyes Saturday morning.
For a few blissful seconds, I didn’t remember what day it was.
Then I did.
Prom.
I rolled onto my stomach and buried my face in the pillow. I told myself I absolutely did not care. And if I repeated it often enough, eventually my brain might get the message.
By the time I gave up and dragged myself downstairs, I was still unconvinced. I wore my flannel pajama pants and an oversized sweatshirt that had once belonged to Frank. Granny was already in the kitchen making coffee, humming softly while I slumped into a chair and folded my arms on the table.
“Morning, sweetheart.”
“Morning.”
She placed a mug in front of me—cream and sugar, exactly the way I liked it—before sitting across from me with her own.
“You’re moping.”
I lifted my head. “I’m not moping.”
“You’ve been moping all week.”
“I have not.”
Granny took a sip of coffee. The woman didn’t need words to be smug.
I sighed and dropped my chin back onto my arms. “Sugar wouldn’t even let me work today. What am I supposed to do? Sit around and stare at the walls?”
“You could get ready for prom.”
I looked at her.
“I’m not going to prom. I don’t have a dress or a date. The boys at school won’t even look at me, much less talk to me long enough to ask me.”
That last part had become especially true since Christmas. I had no idea what had happened.
Joseph could barely get out of my way fast enough whenever we crossed paths, and most of the other boys seemed equally determined to keep their distance.
Probably for the best.
That didn’t make tonight easier.
Granny calmly drank her coffee.
I narrowed my eyes. “You’re being suspiciously quiet.”
“I’m drinking my coffee.”
“Exactly.”
She smiled into the mug. I should’ve known then something was up. Instead, I dropped my head again and let myself be miserable.
Going alone was technically an option. Nobody stopped students from attending without dates.
But I could already picture it. Walking into the gym by myself. Sitting at some table while couples danced around me. Pretending I’d chosen to be alone so nobody would realize nobody had chosen me.
No, thank you.
At home, at least nobody would watch.
The morning crawled by. I watched television without paying attention, scrolled through my phone, helped Granny fold laundry, then checked the time and discovered only seventeen minutes had passed since the last time I checked it.
Jasper hadn’t texted much either.
That shouldn’t have mattered.
It did.
I wondered what he was doing in Nebraska. Working, probably. Maybe riding with the club.
Definitely not thinking about prom at all.
Our conversation earlier in the week had left me irritated enough that I’d called him Romeo before saying goodnight.
If he’d noticed, he didn’t say anything.
Since then, he’d been perfectly normal, which somehow made me even more annoyed.
By mid-afternoon, I’d given serious consideration to putting my pajamas back on and refusing to leave the couch until Monday.
Then somebody knocked on the front door.
I glanced toward Granny. “Are you expecting someone?”
Her mouth curved. “Maybe.”
Before I could ask anything else, the front door opened. Voices carried through the hallway, familiar enough that I sat up.
Then Josie appeared in the living room wearing a grin that immediately made me nervous.
“Surprise!”
Georgie came in behind her carrying a garment bag. Jasper and Jasmine raced around him into the room, eight years old and already talking over each other before they’d even reached me.
I stared at all of them.
“What is this?”
“This,” Josie announced as she draped the garment bag over the couch, “is us making sure you go to prom.”
I stood. “I’m not going to prom.”
“Yes, you are.”
“No, I’m not.”
She unzipped the garment bag.
Every argument disappeared.
The dress inside shimmered silver beneath the afternoon light. Delicate beading covered the bodice, catching every little movement, while the skirt fell in soft layers beneath it.
It wasn’t overly elaborate.
It was worse.
It was exactly the kind of dress I would’ve stopped to stare at in a store window before convincing myself I had nowhere to wear it.
“Josie—”
“You can,” she said before I even finished.
Sugar came in behind them carrying a shoe box and a jewelry case.
Of course Sugar was involved. She had control of my work schedule.
She put everything on the coffee table and opened the box to reveal strappy silver heels. Inside the jewelry case sat a delicate silver necklace with a small pendant and matching earrings.
I shook my head.
“This is too much. I can’t accept all of this.”
“You’re not accepting it,” Sugar said. “You’re borrowing it. The dress is mine from when I was your age. The shoes are Josie’s. The jewelry is Granny’s.”
My head turned slowly toward Granny.
She leaned against the doorway wearing an entirely too innocent smile.
“You knew about this.”
“I might’ve had an inkling.”
An inkling.
Right.
I looked back at the dress.
For half a second, I let myself imagine wearing it.
Then I remembered the part none of them seemed interested in discussing.
“I appreciate this. I really do. But I’m not going alone. I’m not going to be that girl sitting at a table by herself while everyone else dances. I’d rather stay home.”
Georgie shifted near the doorway. “Fiona, you don’t have to go if you don’t want to. No one’s forcing you.”
Josie glared at him. “Georgie, you’re not helping.”
“I’m just saying...”
“She’s going.”
“Josie—”
Her expression softened when she looked back at me. “Fiona, listen to me. You deserve to go to prom. You deserve to have fun. Prom isn’t something you want to miss because nobody had enough sense to ask you.”
“Easy for you to say. You’ve never been the girl sitting alone.”
“You’re right. I haven’t.”
That stopped me until Josie glanced toward Jasmine. The little girl sat on the couch with the jewelry case in her lap, running one finger carefully along the silver chain.
“She’s watching,” Josie said quietly.
I frowned. “What?”
“What do you want her to learn? That she needs a boy before she gets to put on the beautiful dress? That she should stay home from something she wants because she might have to walk into the room alone?”
That was dirty.
Josie knew it too.
I glared at her.
Her expression remained perfectly innocent.
“Or,” she continued, “she can watch her aunt get dressed up, walk into that school with her head held high, and have a good time because she decided she deserved to be there.”
Jasmine looked up at me.
Dammit.
“Fine,” I muttered.
Josie’s grin exploded.
“Fine, what?”
“I’ll go.”
She clapped her hands once. “Good. Now let’s get you ready.”
I should’ve known from that tone that the rest of my afternoon no longer belonged to me.
The next few hours turned my bathroom into something resembling a salon under military occupation. Josie took charge of my hair. Sugar handled makeup. At some point, Granny appeared with snacks because apparently getting ready for prom required provisions.
I let them fuss.
Mostly because arguing took more energy than I had.
Also, because somewhere between Josie curling another section of my hair and Sugar experimenting with three different shades of eyeshadow, the knot of dread in my stomach began twisting into something else.
Nerves.
Excitement.
Hope, maybe.
That one I didn’t trust.
The last dance I’d been supposed to attend had started with hope too.
I’d had a new dress that night. Nothing fancy, but Granny had bought it for me, and I’d felt pretty when I looked in the mirror.
Joseph had asked me.
I’d believed that meant something.
I’d driven to the school after he never showed, still making excuses for him right up until I saw him walking inside with Amy on his arm.
That image had stayed with me longer than I wanted to admit.
Not because Joseph mattered now.
He didn’t.
What mattered was how easily I’d believed I finally belonged somewhere, only to discover I’d been wrong.
“Fiona?” Sugar’s voice pulled me back.
I met her eyes in the mirror.
“You okay?”
“Yeah.”
She didn’t look convinced.
Neither was I.
She squeezed my shoulder. “You’re going to have a good time.”
I wanted to believe her.
The strange thing was, when I remembered that awful night now, Joseph wasn’t the first person who came to mind anymore.
Jasper was.
Sitting on that couch at the ski resort while I tried not to cry. Making me laugh. Telling me some boy’s stupid choice didn’t decide whether I deserved a happily ever after.
That was the part of the night I wanted to remember.
Maybe it always would be.
By the time Josie and Sugar finished, I barely recognized the girl in the mirror.
My hair fell in soft waves around my shoulders, the light catching warmer streaks of brown I normally never noticed. Sugar had kept my makeup subtle except around my eyes, where silver shadow made them look almost too pale against my skin.
Then there was the dress.
It fit as though Sugar had somehow known my measurements without asking. The bodice hugged my waist before the skirt spilled softly around my legs, the silver fabric catching the light whenever I moved.
For a long moment, I just stared.
I look beautiful. The thought came without an argument following it. That might’ve been the most surprising part. It came because I felt beautiful.
“Ready?” Josie asked behind me.
I looked at myself one more time before nodding.
“As I’ll ever be.”
We went downstairs together.
Granny waited in the living room with Georgie and the twins. Georgie looked up as I reached the stairs and went quiet.
“Fiona.” His expression softened. “You look...”
A knock at the front door made everyone freeze.
Georgie frowned. “Who’s that?”
Granny smiled.
My stomach tightened.
“Why don’t you answer it and find out?”
Georgie looked at her.
Then at Josie.
Then Sugar.
Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who had finally realized something was going on. He walked to the door and opened it. His entire body went rigid. “What the hell are you doing here?”
My heart stopped.
I knew that tone.