“Wait, that’s his?” She could clearly see his name on the card.
“Yep, he slipped it to me with clear instructions on what you needed.”
“Shana, I can’t take his money,” Kara protested. She felt like she’d already taken too much from him.
“You’re not. I am,” She smiled. “I’m just shoppingforyou.”
“Don’t argue with a lawyer, Kara, you lose every time,” Felicity chuckled as if she had personal experience, probably with her lawyer husband.
“Come with me, Kara,” Veronica motioned for Kara to follow her through the maze of expensive clothing racks.
“Wait…” Shana suddenly grinned. “Are we all going to that party at Thad’s hotel in a few days? That big fundraiser thing?”
“Oh my God!” Felicity clapped her hands in glee. “Kara will need an evening gown.”
“Wait, what party?” Kara asked faintly. This was all beginning to make her feel a bit dizzy. She couldn’t go to some big public party. That was a terrible idea, adangerousone.
“It’s a huge fundraiser gala for literacy efforts across America. Thad and his father are hosting it at the Golden Circle Hotel which has one of the most beautiful art deco ballrooms in the city,” Felicity explained. “Angelo’s restaurant will cater the dinner service. They’ll have dancing and an art auction.”
“I don’t think I should go—” Kara’s protests were drowned out as she was dragged in the direction of the evening gowns that shimmered and glittered in dozens of colors and styles.
“She looks overwhelmed,” Asher said. “Given her background, I’d say this is not something she’s ever done before.”
Angelo’s gaze was fixed on Kara and he had to agree with Asher’s observation.
“She hasn’t. She had only two or three days’ worth of clothes.” His stomach still knotted every time he thought about how little she had.
Kara’s face was pale and her look a little dazed. She was definitely overwhelmed, but maybe that was what she needed. To get out of her own head for a few hours, forget her past, the danger and just be a normal person for as long as Angelo could make it last.
Now he felt like he understood the fairy godmother in Cinderella. He wanted to give Kara a normal, happy life, but he knew that at some point her past would catch up with her and everything he had worked to give her up to that point would vanish and he’d be left standing there amidst the remains of her pumpkin coach and holding onto the memory of her like the prince had with Cinderella’s glass slipper.
“They just moved to the evening gown section,” Asher mused curiously. “Do you have anything fancy coming up?”
“I don’t think so—” he halted as a vision of a fancy invitation hanging on his fridge flashed across his mind. “Actually I do. There’s a fundraiser gala in two days. I’d forgotten all about it. My restaurant is catering it.”
“Well,” Asher chuckled. “You were busy fighting off assholes in dark alleys and getting hospitalized.”
True. His mind had been anywhere but on his social calendar.
“Do you still want to go?” Asher asked him.
Did he? He had a sudden vision of dancing with Kara. He would be wearing a black tuxedo and she’d be wearing in a beautiful dress in the golden glow of a decorated ballroom. She was smiling, happy, enjoying herself. He wanted that happiness for Kara to come true so deeply that he found himself nodding.
“Just give me the details, and I’ll prep the team here in town to handle your and Kara’s security during the gala.”
“Yes, of course.” Angelo texted Thad to send Asher everything on the literacy event.
He wondered if taking Kara to an event like that would be too much for her, but he really wanted her to have fun and a night of magic and romance. The choice would be hers of course. If she truly didn’t want to go, he would not force her.
Asher lingered beside Angelo, his eyes tracing the movement of not just Kara, but all four of the women. Angelo smiled softly as Kara was pulled into a dressing room and given a stack of clothes from Felicity. A few minutes later, Veronica exited the dressing rooms and walked over to Angelo.
“You’re going to take her to literacy gala right?” Veronica was quieter than Shana and Felicity. She had lost her husband when she was young and raised her daughter on her own, she gone through a lot of life’s roughest moments. She, better than most, would understand what Kara had been going through.
“I hope so,” he replied. “The choice will be hers.”
Veronica glanced at the dressing rooms again before she looked at Angelo once more.
“She has a lot of trauma, Angelo, and I think a lot of PTSD. She won’t be easy. There will be things in life that will always affect her.”
