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“Jesus, Cara… Seriously, you gotta stop thinking about shit like that. Do I have to lock all the windows in your apartment?”
“Really funny, Renee. No, I’m not going to jump from a window. It’s just… I don’t know, this sucks.”
“Welcome to the rest of your life,” she says with a shrug, and I just give her my death-stare. “I mean it, Cara. Nobody said that love was supposed to be easy. Sometimes it sucks, sometimes it’s painful… Yeah, love is all that. But you can’t lower your arms just because it’s hard. You gotta keep fighting. And the Cara I know is a fighter, not a quitter.”
“I guess you’re right,” I sigh, running one hand through my hair. “What do you say we go out? I’m going insane just sitting here.”
“Now we’re talking!” She chirps happily, jumping up to her feet. “Tequila!” She proclaims, balling one hand into a fist and throwing it up in the air.
“No, no tequila… Just --” I start, but then I hear someone knocking at the door. We look at each other in complete silence, my heart kicking and punching against my ribcage. Could it be…?
Swallowing hard, I start walking toward the door, my mind already conjuring a smiling bright image of Liam. It’s gotta be him. Oh, please, God, let it be Liam.
Feeling a knot in my stomach, I curl my fingers around the handle of the door and turn it. I hold my breath as the door turns on its hinges and - surprise, surprise - there’s no Liam waiting for me in the hallway. Instead, there’s a gangly teenager with a knapsack, his face covered in acne.
“Are you… mm… Caralyn?” He asks me hesitantly, his cheeks turning crimson as his eyes find my cleavage. In my hurry to get to the door, I completely forgot that I was wearing pajama shorts and a skimpy top.
“That’s me,” I tell him, my heart once again lowering its pace in disappointment. I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up.
“Well, this is for you then,” the boy tells me, taking an envelope out from his knapsack.
“Okay… Thank you,” I tell him with a nod, my eyes focused on the black envelope he pushed into my hands. With a parting smile, I close the door and turn to Renee, shrugging as I show her the envelope.
“What’s that?” Renee asks me, looking at me while she kneels on the couch, her arms folded over the headrest.
“No idea, it doesn’t say anything.” I turn the envelope over, but there’s nothing written on the outside. Carefully opening it, I take a single folded sheet of paper from the inside. There’s a golden lettering on the top and it just reads Liam Donovan. My heart resumes his galloping pace once more as I read Liam’s name, and I have to take a deep breath to calm myself.
“What, Cara? Tell me!” Renee demands, getting out from the couch and hurrying to my side. “Read it!”
“Cara, I’m sorry I’ve lied to you,” I start to read, my voice fraught with tension. “As an apology, I’d like to invite you to an event I’m hosting tomorrow night. I hope to see you there. Liam.”
“That’s it?” Renee asks me, surprised.
“That’s it… The directions and time of the event are on the back, but aside from that… There’s nothing else,” I say, my brain fast at work as it tries to decode the meaning behind Liam’s note. Is he apologizing because he wants to make things right? Or is he doing it because… because he wants to end it on a positive note? “Oh, what do I do?”
“What do you mean? You go to that event, whatever it is, and you kick some ass, Cara!” Grabbing me by the shoulders, she forces me to turn toward her and then repeats her words slowly. “Kick. Some. Ass.”
Cara
Why the hell am I feeling so nervous right now?
I’ve splurged on a beautiful thousand-dollar dress, I’m wearing my best Jimmy Choos, and there’s a let’s-take-over-the-world smile on my face. And still, my legs feel like spaghetti noodles.
“Are you ready?” Renne asks me, looking out the window of our taxi, one of her hands already grabbing the door handle.
“Yeah, let’s go,” I tell her, pretending that I’m okay even though I’m a nervous wreck. But what the hell - a woman must conquer her fears, right? Even if her fears include attending a black tie event in a five-star hotel. I know, after Liam’s little note I should be feeling at least a little hopeful… But I just can’t seem to do it. What if I stroll inside to see him arm-in-arm with another woman? What if he went to all this length just to humiliate me? I don’t think that Liam’s the kind of guy who’d do such a thing, but when it comes to men… Well, you never know, right?
“Whatever Liam has on his mind,” Renee starts as we leave the taxi and start walking toward the hotel lobby, “he sure didn’t care about the cost.”
“Yeah,” I mutter under my breath. Liam booked the Mandarin Oriental, one of the most expensive hotels in New York, for his surprise event - and that just makes me feel even more nervous about the whole thing.
The moment we step inside the lobby, one of the clerks walks straight toward us and asks for our names. After checking that we’re on the list (well, I’m the one on the list, Renee’s just my plus-one) he then gets us inside an elevator; then, he leads us through a few luxurious corridors, the walls lined with what I suspect to be expensive and original paintings, and finally stops in front of two large double doors.
“In there,” he proclaims solemnly, pushing one of the doors open and allowing us a peek of the most amazing ballroom I’ve ever seen. Renee and I both step inside at the same time, and I struggle to stop my jaw from hanging open as I look around the room.
Three gigantic chandeliers hang from the ceiling, their sparkling light covering the room; instead of walls, half the ballroom has huge floor-to-ceiling windows, allowing everyone inside a nice clear view of Central Park. Circular tables, covered with red tablecloth and expensive silverware, are dispersed on the floor, and the distance between them is so perfect you’d say someone went around the room with a ruler.
