I quirked an eyebrow at him. “The Rangers, huh?”
He surprised me by chuckling. “Who’s your team?”
“The Bruins, of course. The Rangers are sissy men.”
“Good to know,” he said, his shoulders relaxing a bit. “Good to know.”
— Corey
Needless to say, my two hours at the salon and running errands were excruciating.
I spent the whole time trying to imagine how their very first conversation would sound. And I couldn’t decide if I was irritated with Hartley’s father for just dropping in like that. Was it better to show up unannounced, or never to show up at all?
The day was warm for April, and I worked up a sweat on the way home. I’d had my new braces for a month already, and I was getting around on them pretty well. Grudgingly, I had to admit that the new technology was pretty amazing. I still had to use forearm crutches, but I was truly walking on my legs now, not just swinging them like stilts. Stairs were so much easier, and I rarely used my wheelchair anymore, except at home in our suite.
When I finally got back to my room, I found a note on our couch.
Callahan— I have so much to tell you. But I’ve borrowed Stacia’s car to drive home to talk to my mom. It had to be done. I will absolutely be back by 8 p.m. — so put on that dress.
Love you, H.
The suspense was killing me, of course. But I would have to be patient. I texted him: Drive safe, DON’T SPEED. Love you. C.
I went to dinner in the dining hall with Dana and Daniel, who were pumped up to go to the Beaumont Ball together. It had taken Daniel two months to get up the courage to ask Dana out. Now that they’d been dating a couple of weeks, and I hoped to see Daniel do the walk of shame from our suite tomorrow morning. I’d been stockpiling taunts for tomorrow’s brunch, just in case.
But tonight I was so distracted I could barely follow their conversation.
“Is everything okay, Corey?” Dana asked me after the third time I failed to answer a simple question.
“Hmm? Yes. I’m fine.”
“Where’s Hartley?” she asked. “You two aren’t fighting, are you?”
I shook my head. “He went to see his mom for a couple of hours. His…there’s a family thing he’s dealing with today. He said he’d be back in time for the ball.”
Dana looked at her watch. “Let’s go get ready. I can make your nails match your dress.”
I made a face. “Sounds fussy.”
“Tonight you’re not a jock, Corey,” she said. “Tonight you’re a party girl.”
“If you say so,” I sighed. Honestly, I didn’t care one way or another, as long as my jock made it back to me in one piece.
“You’re not going to tell me what’s wrong with Hartley, are you?” Dana pried. I couldn’t see her, because my eyes were closed. But I could feel her breath on my face as she stroked shadow onto my eyelids.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “It’s not my story to tell. But nobody is sick or dying, I swear. It’s just family drama.”
“Well that’s good,” Dana said, and I wasn’t sure if she meant Hartley or her makeup job. “Open your eyes and take a look.”
I did. And when she moved out of my view in the mirror, it was almost as if another girl looked back at me. I’d never been a fan of makeup, and after my accident I’d fallen out of the habit of wearing any. The girl — no, the woman in the mirror was a more glamorous, stylish one than I usually saw there. Dana had promised not to overdo it, and she’d kept her word. But her artistry seemed to bring my face into sharper focus. The gold-brown color of the eye shadow complimented my hair, which was still sleek and curled under at the ends from my salon visit.
But the dress was my favorite part of the whole ensemble. Dana had picked it out, of course, and she’d outdone herself. It was red, and long. (Dana had called it a maxi dress, whatever that meant.) The design was incredibly simple — it widened gently from a tank-style top to a swirl of silk near my feet. The uninterrupted sweep of fabric hid my braces, giving me back a sleek shape that I hadn’t seen in a mirror in over a year.
“Wow,” Dana said. “Hartley is going to faint. If he ever turns up.”
I couldn’t stop looking. When was the last time I’d looked in a mirror without critical thoughts? A long time. An eternity. And I knew in my heart that the dress and the makeup didn’t really change me. But it did give me a reason to pause and study myself, to celebrate all the visible parts of me that were whole and well — the flush of my healthy skin, my grown-out hair. The mirror was really very friendly to me, yet I’d been holding it in such contempt.
“Do you like it?” Dana whispered.
I knew she was referring to her makeup job, but she might as well have been asking about my whole life. “I do,” I told her. “I really do.”
Just after eight, my phone chirped with a text from Hartley. On my way. So sorry.
I replied, Don’t text and drive! Take all the time U need. I’m heading over there with D&D.