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Charlotte had never invited me anywhere. I couldn’t help the skepticism that crept in.
I didn’t want to suspect something so unfair, but was it possible Charlotte was buddying up to me at Pris’s request? Pretending to care, showing sympathy for Pris’s unkindness, were they all ploys to get me to lower my defenses?
Charlotte fiddled with the zipper of her jumpsuit. “It’s Christmas. We should go shopping together.”
I couldn’t help my unease. Plenty of Christmases had come and gone in the ten years since our parents had been married. What made this one any different, especially with how closed-off Stina and Pris were?
It had to be a ruse. Pris had put her up to this.
And I wasn’t going to fall for it.
“Thanks, but I don’t know if I’m going,” I lied. “I have to check with Stina.” It was a lame excuse, but it was the best I could come up with in the moment.
“You’re going to turn him down?”
Of course not. I had every intention of going to the ball. Even if I worked Christmas Eve, I would still have a few hours to spend with Hawk first.
But I wasn’t going to tell her that. And give her more fodder to hand over to Pris?
I was so going.
With him.
The other reason I declined, however, wasthat I didn’t want to go in someone else’s gown, in something picked off the rack. I wanted to go in something I’d designed.
I wanted to waltz into that room in something I’d sewn with my own hands and have the pride of knowing it was all my own.
“I don’t know,” I told her. “Thanks for the invite, though.”
Charlotte shrugged and headed into the hall.
I waited a few minutes before following her. I locked the closet door and shuffled to the elevator, grateful to find her gone.
Much as I wanted to believe Charlotte’s sudden offer, I just couldn’t buy it.
The elevator arrived, and I stepped in and tapped LL for the building’s lower level. I couldn’t stop thinking about Charlotte’s offer.
When referring to Christmas Eve and Christmas Day plans, she had saidwe. Did that include me?
Was I actually going to be invited to Christmas lunch with my dadandhave the holiday off?
It was too much to hope for.
I entered the breakroom. Charlotte, Pris, Trevor, and Liam trailed behind me one by one, removing their jumpsuits, inserting their time cards into the machine, and heading out. Charlotte and Pris gabbed the whole way down the hall after begging their mom for her credit card so they could buy dresses.
I lingered longer than I normally would have, waiting to see if Stina might mention the lunch. After the whole debaclewith Derek Cummins, I knew better than to expect anything from her, but I was still stupidly hopeful.
Not to spend time with her, but to spend time with Dad.
I’d tried pleading with him after the fallout had happened, but Dad had taken his wife’s side. Granted, he had to live with the woman, but still. They’d made unfair accusations about me stealing Derek right out from under Pris’s nose.
Truth be told, Derek had told me how manipulative Pris had been while they’d dated. He’d claimed he loved being around me because I didn’t belittle him or make him feel incompetent just so he'd stay with me.
After he and Pris had broken up, he’d come to me as a friend—because he’d needed someone to talk to.
Then, after spending a few afternoons together, our conversations had veered away from Pris. They’d turned inwardly, to ourselves and our feelings.
He’d opened up to me. I’d opened up to him. We’d bonded.
