She shook her head, sending her perfect blonde ringlets into a bounce. “The two of you are absolutely maddening to be around. I’ve never met more stubborn people. There is nothing Chase wouldn’t do for you. Nothing. And I think you already know that.”
I swallowed the large lump of emotion clogging my windpipe. It was a hard pill to swallow. I knew that without Chase, I wouldn’t be here with Lexi getting ready to shop for my favorite holiday. Without Chase, my mom would be alone in the world. Without Chase, I wouldn’t have the chance to find love.
We might always be at each other’s throats, or drive each other insane, but he would always be there. He would never let me down. In my book, that spoke volumes. I knew that there were things out there in the world that I couldn’t wrap my mind around, but knowing Chase was at my side made it all bearable.
“I know,” I managed softly, risking a glance at her.
Her eyes shone seriously. “Just don’t break his heart.”
My chest felt heavy. What I needed to break was this somber mood that had settled over us. This was supposed to be fun. “I’m not sure I could. I swear he has a heart of stone.”
“It was, until he met you.”
She let me to stew over her words the rest of the trip until we’d reached our first destination, though her words never left me. Being the good friend that I was, I let her have the first pick. Well that was one reason, but secretly I was also hoping for a miracle or an act of God that would allow Lexi to find her costume in the first store. Anything to cut our shopping trip in half.
Every time we go out, I was reminded how different we really were. It was easy to forget when it was just us, but the moment we were out in public, I saw the strange way people reacted to them. It was so weird to me. Especially since there was a knot that formed in my stomach the further we got from home. The further away we got from Chase. I was trying hard to ignore the growing knot, and I did not want admit that I missed him, that he mattered that much.
I was blaming it entirely on the stupid mark on my hip, the one we both shared.
Lexi must have sensed my agitation because she repeatedly asked if I was okay. If I was feeling alright? Was something wrong? The only person I was fooling was me.
Thankfully, someone above answered my desperate prayers, and Lexi found her perfect hoochie ensemble at the second shop. “Do you think Hayden will like it?” she asked, showing a vulnerable side she did so well, yet I knew firsthand how incredibly fierce she could be. It still didn’t stop all the guys in her life from protecting her.
“Are you kidding? He is going to blow a socket when he sees you.” Then there was also the chance that Travis will incinerate him for looking at her so ravenously.
She giggled. “Good. I’m sure you’ll knock Chase’s socks off.”
Lexi didn’t have quite the vocabulary I did, but she usually said the first thing to pop into her perfect head. “What I have in mind doesn’t have the same wow-factor as your costume. Plus, I couldn’t pull off something this skimpy. You have a killer body – it was made to be seen.”
“Angel, you really need to take a look in the mirror,” she said, climbing into my car and tossing her purchase in the back.
“Trust me, I have,” I muttered and hopped into the driver seat.
“I can’t believe you didn’t find anything you liked in either store. There must have been a thousand costumes in there.”
I turned the key into the ignition, and my little Fusion purred to life “True,” I smiled at Lexi. “But nothing screams originality like custom made.” Custom sounded way better than handmade.
She looked unimpressed. “It just seems like too much work,” she sighed.
“Maybe,” I agreed. “But it is so rewarding.”
“Yeah well, so are chocolate éclairs, but you don’t see me slaving away in the kitchen. That’s why there are bakeries.”
I rolled my eyes.
By the time we got to the fabric shop, I was ready to do my thing. Lexi however, looked lost, like a tear in the rain. “This will be fun,” I tried to coax. She was definitely out of her element, while I was right at home.
“I don’t even know where to start,” she admitted, overwhelmed.
She trailed after me, her boots clicking on the tile floor as we meandered down the aisles looking for the ideal fabric. In my head I knew precisely what I wanted.
“Do you have a sewing machine?” Lexi asked, as I was pulling down rolls of material from the shelves.
“Umm, yeah. My mom does. When I was little, she used to make all my dolls and Barbie’s clothes,” I said offhandedly, while I was trying to concentrate on fabrics.
“Wow. I can’t believe your mom did that.” There was wistfulness and a young girls yearning in her voice.