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Zac had said the same thing. She’d have toshowhim.
Would she have the courage to make a stand for the man she’d fallen for?
As she watched Mavis toy with the pawn again, a glimmer of an idea shimmered through Lana’s consciousness, slowly coalescing into a plan that had her gut clenching with trepidation.
Did she have the gumption to pull it off?
Mavis cleared her throat. “Listen to your heart, dear. It’s the only way.”
Listening to her heart is what had got Lana to this point: confused, petrified, yet buzzing with anticipation. Ironic, as she’d always listened to her head until now. She’d been the perfect curator, the perfect cousin, the perfect girlfriend. She had a well-ordered, sensible life back in Sydney.
So why was she considering turning it topsy-turvy by getting involved with a guy like Zac?
Lana gestured at the chessboard. “Your move. Then I might tell you my plan.”
“What plan?”
Mavis’s eyes gleamed with delight at the hint of subterfuge and Lana chuckled.
“What time do you think you’ll be ready tonight?”
“Well, there’s a lot more of me to nip, tuck, polish, exfoliate, moisturise and pluck than you, so around six?”
Lana smiled and moved a bishop. “That’s fine. If you could meet me at my cabin shortly after, that would be great.”
Mavis frowned. “But what’s the plan?”
Lana leaned forward and crooked her finger, dropping her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “I need your help.”
* * *
“How about this one?”
Lana glanced at the skimpy, thigh-skimming, crimson silk dress Mavis held up and shook her head. “I couldn’t wear that.”
Mavis shrugged and flung it on the ever-growing pile on Lana’s bed, and picked another dress off a hanger from the quickly emptying wardrobe. “What about this?”
Lana took one look at the skin-tight tangerine tube dress and wrinkled her nose. “No way.”
Mavis sighed and added it to the pile. “This cousin of yours sure has an interesting dress sense.”
“Bold and brazen, more like it.”
Beth had packed enough designer dresses to last Lana a month but every one she’d contemplated wearing tonight had ended up on the discard pile. And considering she’d have to make a decision shortly, her chances of finding anything suitable were rapidly dwindling.
“This one?” Mavis held a sequinned mulberry mini at arms length, screwing up her eyes with a thoughtful expression on her face. “The color is gorgeous.”
As was the dress, the sequins shimmering like the finest claret as Mavis turned it this way and that. But the dress was super short, redefining the term mini, and Lana would never be able to pull off something like that without tugging self-consciously at the hem all night.
She wanted to make a statement, to show Zac what she wanted, not show him what he apparently wanted.
“Here, let me hold it up to you.”
The second Mavis held it up in front of her and Lana glanced down and saw where the dress ended, she shook her head vigorously. “Next.”
Mavis tut-tutted as she reached into the wardrobe again. “There are only a few left.”
Lana’s heart sank. She knew what was left. She’d examined every single dress at least ten times since she’d made the decision this morning to go all out tonight and prove to Zac she was ready to take the next step.
