AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Nah,” Nicole said right away. “It’s the perfect length. Don’t you like it?”
Taking a second look at her reflection, Raina had to admit that she did. The navy blue dress was fitted at the top and flared out below her chest; the neckline was perfect and the sleeves touched her wrists. To top it off, the dress wascomfortable. It was made of a sweater material that made Raina feel like she was encased in one of her cardigans.
“I do,” Raina admitted. “But you have to keep it this summer. My mom would throw it out.”
“Deal.”
Raina cleared her throat. “What’s your relationship with the Ashcrofts?”
“Zara and I are close. Theo and I became closer recently. Dean’s nice, but we don’t hang out. Jesse and I were best friends as kids, and we lost touch, then reconnected the summer before high school.”
Raina nodded, taking another outfit from the chair. When she came out, Nicole vetoed the orange top, before motioning for the long skirt to be thrown in the rejection pile as well.
“What happened with you and Jesse? Why did you lose touch?” Raina asked.
Nicole sighed. “I was going through a hard time with my parents, and they kept jetting off to various countries. They couldn’t leave me home alone so they took me with them most of the time. It’s hard to maintain a friendship when you live in different countries.”
“Why did you start talking again?” Raina asked after a mint green shirt was given a thumbs up.
“Pass.”
“No passes,” Raina argued. “I have to try on all of these clothes, so you have to answer all the questions.”
“Fine.” Nicole sighed again and turned away to study a purple dress. Her words came out in a low mumble, “I told my parents I wasn’t interested in dating the boy they tried to set me up with, and they told me to leave.”
The skirt Raina was holding fell to the floor, but neither girl made a move to pick it up. “Your parents kicked you out? Over a boy?”
“Only for a few days.” Nicole shrugged. “Besides, they apologized.”
“Still.” In no world was it okay for a parent to kick their child out of the house, especially in her community, where children were highly valued. And judging by the way Nicole refused to meet her eyes, her parents’ apology had not yet been accepted. “Where did you go?”
“Theo’s,” Nicole answered, seemingly grateful for the subject change.
Raina nodded slowly. “Was it just that you didn’t want to date the boy, or was there something else? Because that seems pretty extreme.”
“I told them I wasn’t interested in dating anyone. Period.” Nicole’s voice was cold, not a single shred of emotion showing on her face. “No matter who they tried to shove on me or whatever business connection they wanted to make.”
She cleared her throat, shoving yet another piece of fabric into Raina’s arms. With a flick of Nicole’s hand, Raina scurried back to the dressing room. The conversation was dismissed but not forgotten, another piece of the Nicole Lawrence puzzle that Raina was trying to put together.
ChapterEighteen
“Ihereby call Ashcroft Family Time to order,” Theo declared, banging his gavel on his desk.
Zara was lying eagle-spread on Jesse’s bed, relegating Jesse to the uncomfortable wood floor. Dean was sitting cross-legged on his own bed, but it was the first time in a few days that the four Ashcroft cousins had been alone together. They’d been pushing their meeting off for days, with clubs and homework getting in the way of all four Ashcrofts being free at the same time.
“Hey, why do you get to be in charge?” Zara complained.
“Who even uses the word ‘hereby’ anymore?” Dean added.
“And where did you get a gavel?” Jesse chimed in.
Theo scowled at them all, spinning around in the desk chair. “Because I said so, I do, and I stole it from Zara’s closet. Now, can we please focus on the reason why we’re here?”
“Which is…?” Dean prompted.
“Family dinner.”
“Family dinner,” Zara echoed mournfully. “We should go to a funeral home instead; it would be just as fun.”
