Heart warm, she hugged her mother tighter. Cutting back at work looked good on her. “You better get back to your cooking before you burn the house down.”
Leaving the mail on the kitchen table, she moved toward her room and froze at the doorway. A white box and a note on top of it lay on the bed. Her heart punched the wall of her chest. Her throat closed. It couldn’t be what she thought it was. It just couldn’t.
Swallowing, she asked, “Mom? What’s that on my bed?”
“Oh! It completely slipped my mind. That came for you today.”
Slowly, like she was approaching something wild and dangerous, Didi moved closer. She was afraid to blink; if she did, the package might disappear. Once she reached it, she ran a shaking hand over the edge of the box. The smooth texture of the lid seemed real enough beneath her fingertips. She refused to smile. To hope. For all she knew, this was someone’s idea of a sick joke.
Drawing a squiggly line over the lid toward the note with her fingertip, she picked up the envelope and set it aside. Not yet. She couldn’t bring herself to read what was written on the high-quality paper. Placing a hand on each side, she took a deep breath and lifted the lid. Delicate white tissue covered the contents. But beneath the translucent paper something pink stood out. Her heartbeat reached her ears, and she couldn’t seem to get enough air into her lungs.
With just her thumb and index finger, she lifted the tissue—first the one on top to the right then the one beneath to the left. Her breath hitched as she placed a hand against the frantic beating in her chest.
A dress the color of a sunset greeted her. She ran her fingers over the silk—so soft, so smooth. When she lifted it out of the box, the strapless bodice had a sweetheart neckline and the skirt overflowed with tulle.
Her mother gasped, causing her to whirl around.
“Didi, that’s gorgeous. Who would send you . . .” She trailed off when she realized the answer to her question.
Hugging the dress against her, Didi picked up the envelope and slipped out the note. The familiar curling scrawl simply said: Be ready by six.
She practically jumped out of her skin. “Mom!”
“Didi, no.” Her mother shook her head. “Don’t do this to yourself again. Please.”
Placing the note with the dress neatly on the bed, she went to her trembling mother and hugged her. “I don’t know what this means, but I think I owe it to myself to see this through, like you said that day we drove to the airport.” She drew back and looked into her mother’s eyes. Worry was etched in the lines of the older woman’s face. “You just have to trust me, Mom.”
At exactly six, the doorbell rang. Didi jerked in surprise, dropping the gold hoop earring she had been in the process of putting on. She straightened and took a deep breath, then picked up the earring again, looking at herself in the mirror. Her hair had grown out a little, so she used clips to keep the strands away from her face.
“Didi!” her mother called from the living room.
“Coming!” she called back, adding the final touches to her makeup. She added one more swipe of gloss on her lips, then rubbed them together with a smack. She fussed with the skirt of her dress. Did one last check. This was it. Nothing more she could do but actually show up.
That night, no matter what happened, she wouldn’t let him leave without telling him how she felt.
Picking up the matching clutch, her knees shaking so hard she was afraid she would stumble, she strode out of her room and made her way to the living room with all the fake confidence she could muster. Her heart lurched when she spotted Nathan sitting on the couch in a white suit and blue tie.
“Honey, you should hide your disappointment better,” he said, getting up and grinning.
Fingers shaking like when she’d first spotted the box on her bed, she patted her hair, making sure the clips stayed in place. “I’m sorry.” She hated how dejected she sounded. “I just thought—”
“That I was someone else?”
She nodded, dropping her gaze to the cute ballet flats that had come with the dress. The light in the living room brought out the sparkle in the gold tips. A hand reached out for hers. Nathan placed a soft kiss on her knuckles as she locked gazes with him.
“I think it’s time for some fun,” he said, squeezing her hand.
She shook her head. “That sounds nice, but I don’t think I’m up for it.”
“You?” He graced her with that open smile of his. “Not up for fun? Where did the girl who wasn’t afraid to jump in, no questions asked, go?”
“Straight to the deepest pits of depression,” she muttered.
“Remember what you said, Didi,” her mom encouraged, hands clasped. “You have to see this through.”
“Thank you, Angela,” Nathan said over his shoulder, treating her mother to his devastating smile. “I promise to take care of her.”
“Nathan,” Didi pleaded with both her tone and eyes.