Rule 1 - Lumen
USE ALL YOUR SENSES TO IDENTIFY THE MASKED MAN.
“Puppies are forever.” I shook my head, turning away from the large, glass window where the most adorable dogs were dressed in bows and playing with a ball. A sign above them said “Take me home for Christmas.” I fought the urge to go inside and pick one out. “I’d rather go to the pound. Plus, I’m not ready for that level of commitment.”
Shy, my sister, sighed. “You’re not ready for any kind of commitment, which is the problem.” She tugged on my arm, and she and my other sister, Tauren, walked past the pet store and on to another clothing store in the mall.
“I was ready for commitment, if you remember—” I started, but Tauren cut me off.
“Please, do we have to hear this again? Ben was a loser. You are lucky, in my opinion, that he called the wedding off.”
I flinched, and just then, as if on cue, a Mariah Carey song started playing over the intercom. I covered my ears and let out a cry of anguish. I couldn’t escape it.
Shy, my sympathetic sister, frowned. “Well, the most famous song being played every twenty minutes probably doesn’t help the situation. Or this.”
All three of us stopped short at the giant poster on the wall ahead of us.
MAREY CAREY: IMPERSONATOR LIVE THIS WEEKEND!
I stared at the image of the girl who stole my future from me. Dressed in all her Mariah Carey- wannabe Santa outfit glory, she was smiling so wide, as if she wasn’t a home-wrecker.
I pivoted. “Let’s go get a pretzel before I tear down every wreath and Christmas light in this place.”
“Actually”—Shy looked at her watch and exchanged a look with Tauren—“we had an ulterior motive for coming to the mall today...”
“Have you seen the ads for thoseblind date photoshoots?” Tauren grinned. My stomach dropped, and I shook my head furiously.
“Tauren, no. You didn’t.” I panicked as I looked across the mall, zeroing in on the photography studio on the other side.
“You have the new lingerie.” Shy pointed out, her eyes dropping to my red bag.
“You made me buy these!” I protested, but then it hit me. “You planned this all out, didn’t you?”
My older sisters smirked and pushed me toward the business. I fought with my words the entire time, trudging past Marey Carey’s poster. It had been almost a full year since we’d gone to her concert, where my fiancé promptly dumped me after, confessing that they’d been having an affair for months.
We stopped at the entrance, and I stared at the poster advertising the blind date photoshoots.
Let’s shoot your shot at love.
“Lumen?” A goth girl with a large smile and giant blue eyes came out, a camera hanging from her neck.
“That’s me.”
My sisters urged me to go in. “Go have fun,” Tauren smiled. “We’ll be back in a few hours. Let us know if he’s hot or not.”
“Come back at three!” The photographer grabbed my hand and tugged me along. “I’m Neve, and you’re in good hands.”
Changing into my brand-new, rather racy, red lingerie, I was handed a silk robe and sent to a hair and makeup artist.
“Do you know anything about who the guy is?” I twisted my fingers in my lap. This was my first official step toward moving past Ben. And, if I was honest, it was long overdue.
“His name is Tobias. He’s twenty-two, and he’s yummy,” Neve teased.
“Yummy?” I raised an eyebrow.
“You’ll see.” She played coy, and soon enough, I was staring at a version of myself I’d never seen before. Neve frowned. “Are you okay?”
I pressed my lips together. “I’ve just... never looked this pretty.”
