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I’m not used to taking compliments.
She dangles a pair of high-heeled pumps from her fingers. “Now for shoes.”
I shake my head. “Uh-huh. No way. I’ll break my ankle in those. Flats only.”
She sighs, as though I’ve disappointed her, but finds a suitable pair. I don’t do heels, and it’s not only because of my fear of breaking something. I’m tall, and heels only make me taller, which means I attract people’s attention when I prefer to vanish into the background.
Anna glances around the room. “Do you have makeup?”
“No, I don’t wear it.”
She stares at me like I’ve just said I walk down the street with my tits out. “Well, we must change that. Sit.” She gestures to the stool in front of the dressing table.
I do as she says.
She fishes in her purse for her supplies and works her magic on me. Within ten minutes, I’m blinking back at someone who barely looks like me.
“There,” she says. “You will wow him.”
Wow him?
My ears burn. “Oh, God, no. It’s not like that.”
Does she think I’m dating Reed Riviera? He’s old enough to be my father. I mean, he literallyismy stepfather, even if he hasn’t been in my life for as long as I can remember.
She pats my shoulder and gives me a wink. “I don’t think any red-blooded woman would say no to Reed Riviera. And wait until you meet his sons.”
My jaw drops and, before I can explain in more detail, she’s already gathered her belongings and whisks back out of the room.
I feel hideously self-conscious in my floor length emerald dress. My shoulders are bare, as are my arms. At least I managed to talk my way out of being put in a pair of high-heeled pumps and instead have opted for strappy flats. Anna already pulled my hair off my neck and pinned it up. I don’t look like myself. A part of me wants to rebel. Why do I have to dress myself up the way this man wants? But the other part of me doesn’t want to look like the outsider—the poor one who doesn’t fit in.
I wonder what the two sons are going to be like and how well they’ll take to my sudden appearance. They are both adults, so it’s not as though I’m having to get along with a couple of moody teenagers. I figure the best I can hope for is that they’ll basically ignore me.
My head is still spinning, unable to process what’s happened.
My mom is dead. My mom died. I’m never going to see my mom again. I’m an orphan.
I say the lines to myself over and over, as though trying them on for size, or testing out the pain they cause. None of it seems real. The reality simply hasn’t sunk in yet.
I should be curled up in bed, sobbing my heart out, instead of standing here in a five-hundred-dollar dress, with my hair done and a full face of makeup. I don’t want to linger on it, but I’m still relieved that it’s over. I’ll never have to come back to the trailer, wondering what sort of state I’ll find my mother in, or if I’ll have to deal with some asshole she’s brought home. I had plenty of nights where I slept outside because I didn’t want to go in there. Some of the men were so rough that they’d think I was easy game as well. I’d fought more than one of them off, with absolutely no backup from my mom.
A knock comes at my door, and I draw a breath.
I go to answer it. Reed is standing on the other side wearing a tux. Seeing him there jolts me like an electric shock. How have I not noticed how handsome he is? He’s easily over six feet tall, and his shoulders fill out the tux beautifully. He’s got a generous mouth and a strong jaw. From the surprise in his eyes, seeing me dressed this way has affected him as much as it has me.
“Laney,” he says, his blue eyes widening a fraction, “you look—” he pauses as though searching for the right word before settling on— “the part.”
I get the feeling he’d been about to say something else but changed his mind at the last minute.
“Thanks,” I say. “You lookthe part, too.”
He doesn’t react to my sarcasm.
We stare awkwardly at each other, then he gestures down the corridor.
“Shall we?” he says.
I nod and grab my purse—also brand new and now containing my cellphone—from the console table and follow himout. I’m jittery, my stomach fluttering. I clench my hands by my sides to stop them from shaking.
