Page 65 of Never Let Go

Her smile suddenly stretched from ear to ear. “Good, because I found something else for you.” When I frowned, she held up her finger to show me she needed a minute, then darted back to the table she had been browsing.

She spun to face me again, holding up scraps of the fabric that took me a minute to realize was supposed to be underwear. “No. Nope. Those are tiny.”

She shot me an exasperated look. “For that dress, they need to be. Check it out, the bra sticks to your boobs so you won’t be able to see it from behind.”

“I can’t wear a damn sticker. I have actual boobs that need an actual bra.”

“It’s not a sticker.” She thrust the items at me. “You have to trust me, Shel. My boobs are bigger than yours and these will work. Just take them.”

I took them, but I wasn’t sure I’d ever actually wear either the bra or the panties. The color matched the dress perfectly, though. It wasn’t a stretch to imagine what I would look like in them if Tyler peeled the dress off, and it was that thought that made me decide to buy them.

After that, she dragged me to a shoe shop—where we also found a gorgeous silver clutch—and then she led me down a corridor I hadn’t been down before. I frowned at her. “Where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise,” she said easily, taking my arm again and hugging me to her. “I want to say thank you for all your help with the wedding and this felt like the right way to do it.”

She used her free hand to motion at the salon we’d come to a standstill in front of. “Chase and I are treating you to a glow-up before the big date.”

I stared at her. “A what?”

“A glow-up,” she said excitedly. “We’re getting the full package. Hair, makeup, and nails. You’re going to feel like a princess by the time they’re through with you.”

My jaw slackened. “Ashley! Why? That must’ve cost a ton.”

She shrugged. “Not nearly as much as you’ve spent on the wedding. Now just relax and let’s get it done, okay?”

I dragged in a deep breath and looked into the salon. A smile crept onto my lips as Ashley led me inside. The next couple of hours were absolute bliss. We were both pampered, plucked, and filed until we were glowing. By the time they were done with me, I really did feel like a princess.

I stared at myself in the mirror, unable to believe the transformation. I still looked like me, which I loved, but my eyes had been done up to be smokey and mysterious, and my lips popped with a pale pink glossy lipstick that I’d never have bought for myself.

My hair had been put into a French braid, but some of the strands had deliberately been left out of it to frame my face. I looked whimsically beautiful. Like I’ve just stepped off the pages of a fairy tale book.

Ashley’s words from earlier filtered back in my brain and I sighed happily, not wanting to punch her so much anymore. She was right. What can possibly go wrong?

I smiled and shook my hands out at my sides. Nervousness and excitement did a perfectly synchronized dance deep within me. If everything went according to plan, this princess was about to meet her Prince Charming. If everything went well with that, then it might just be the start of my happily ever after.

Part of me wanted to dismiss the thought outright, but another part wanted nothing more than to believe it. All I could do now was wait and find out which part was right.

31

FOSTER

Standing in my bedroom in my new apartment, I stared out at the view I still couldn’t believe I would be waking up to every morning from now on. Ferries dotted the water in the distance. The whole city was bathed in a light mist with heavy gray clouds hanging overhead.

I wonder if that’s a sign about how the date is going to go.

But then I remembered that this was Seattle. If I took this kind of weather as an omen, I’d be living in a constant state of dread.

I finished tying the knot in my tie, adjusting it until it felt right and shaking my hands out at my sides when I was done. This was it.

The big reveal date.

In less than an hour from now, I’d be meeting the woman I’d spent the last few weeks talking to in the dark. Nerves ricocheted through my insides at the thought, but I gritted my teeth and forced them down.

I was in a nice, expensive new suit and I knew I looked pretty good. We were meeting at a venue Sight Unseen had an arrangement with for the reveal dates. I knew it pretty well, having sent hundreds of my own clients there over the years.

It was a great little café set in a garden with a transparent roof that allowed diners to feel like they were still outside while being protected from the elements. The place had dim, romantic lighting, always had bunches of fresh white flowers in vases on every surface, and played only soft, instrumental versions of modern pop songs.

Sight Unseen had a standing reservation for a table in an alcove that provided some privacy, but the place was never jam-packed anyway. I bounced on the balls of my feet and lifted my hands to give my face a few light smacks.