Things hadn’t been perfect since I agreed to give him a chance. I was guarding my time and my heart, wary of what was to come. I’d seen him on Christmas after his time with his family and had been mostly welcomed, Miranda aside. Landon had been uncomfortable around the two of us, but there were no more outbursts from him. It would take everyone a while to adjust. Our time post-Christmas had almost been too perfect. Maybe I was gun shy, but I worried that everything wasn’t what it seemed.
Still I’d agreed to go with him to a New Year’s Eve party at the Overton Hotel downtown. I wanted things to be right. I wanted to bask in his love and affection. But I also didn’t want to get hurt. And my heart was warring with my head.
“Why do you look so nervous?” Heidi asked. She was fussing with my hair, having already done my makeup for the event.
“I’m not nervous,” I lied.
“Yes, you are,” Julia said, leaning back against the chair.
We had all convened at my house to get ready. Julia already looked stunning with her recently dyed burgundy hair piled on the top of her head and dressed in a rocking black dress.
“Things are rocky, and you have turtle head now,” Heidi insisted.
“Turtle head?” I asked with a laugh.
“Yeah, you’re crawling back into your shell because you’re worried he’ll fuck up again,” Heidi said.
“I’m not worried. I’m cautious.”
Heidi nodded her head. “Yep. Turtle head.”
“Wouldn’t you be cautious?” I demanded.
“I don’t know,” Heidi said with a shrug.
“He abandoned me for a week. I’m trying to take it easy.”
“Just try to have fun, okay?” Heidi asked.
I nodded. That was the plan. I was just going to have fun tonight. We were going to be back in a good place again. I wanted us to be back in a good place.
“Good,” Julia said. “Now we need to find someone for me to kiss at midnight.”
“Oh, me too!” Heidi said.
“Landon?” I coughed under my breath.
Heidi’s eyes were round as saucers. “What? No! He’s married!”
“What if he wasn’t?”
“Then he’d be your ex-boyfriend.”
“I’m dating his brother, Heidi.”
“Nuh-uh. No way. This is girl code we’re talking about! Sacred shit here, Em.”
I laughed at her vehemence. I knew something was up even if she wouldn’t admit to it, but I decided to let it slide. “Well, you know I’m good for that kiss at midnight for the both you.”
Heidi snort-laughed. “Oh my God, yes, my love. Take me away!”
“Lesbian threesome. I’m in,” Julia said with a laugh.
Heidi threw herself into my arms and made ridiculous kissy noises. We laughed like we were back in school together, when the world was a lot easier to deal with.
Julia stared at us and shook her head. “You two are so hot for each other.”
Heidi laughed again and kissed my cheek. “Always.”
The doorbell rang, and I had déjà vu, back to the first time Jensen and I had gone on a date. I dashed downstairs with my friends following behind me. Lilyanne rushed to the door, and there was Jensen holding out flowers for her. She beamed up at him.
“Mom! My boyfriend is here!” Lilyanne called to Kimber.
Kimber groaned. “We are going to need to break that habit.”
Jensen ruffled Lily’s hair. “How are you doing, munchkin?”
“Fine. Thank you for asking,” she said politely. “We should have another ice cream date.”
“We should,” he said, grinning from ear to ear.
“Good. I know how to fix the flowers,” Lilyanne announced before hurrying off to her mom and dad.
Jensen stood up, and I got a full view of him in a tuxedo. I heard the other girls scurry back upstairs. They would follow us to the party later.
“Wow,” he said when his gaze found mine. “You look amazing.”
I smiled, grabbed my jacket, and strode toward him. If I was going to give him a chance, then I needed to give him a chance. Be the confident, sexy woman he claimed to love.
“You look pretty good yourself.”
“That dress though.” He ran his hands down the silky material of the emerald-green dress, which matched my eyes, that I’d borrowed from Kimber’s closet.
I blushed at the way his eyes devoured me. “Thanks.”
He seemed to get himself together and then gestured to the door. “After you.”
When I stepped outside, I gasped. A black stretch limo was waiting on the street.
“What? Are we going to prom?” I joked.
Jensen arched an eyebrow. “Didn’t you go with Landon?”
“Oh, yeah. Twice.”
“Then, nope. No prom for you.”
“Fair enough.”
Jensen opened the door to the stretch limo, and I sank into the leather seat. He followed behind me. It was jet-black and swanky on the inside. A bottle of my favorite champagne was chilling in a bucket of ice. Soft music filtered in through the speakers, and I laughed when I realized it was Mariah Carey.
“Mariah Carey?” I asked. “You’re playing Mariah Carey?”
“Look, I know she made a fool of herself, but she is our singer now.”
“Oh my God, it’s ‘Always Be My Baby.’”
“And?”
“This is a good choice.”
He had clearly put some thought into all of this. He was taking this whole business of making things right serious. Between the limo, champagne, and a nod to our first date…we were off to a good start.
He reached over to pour me a glass of champagne.
I downed it before he had finished pouring his and handed my glass back to him. “More, please.”
He grinned, flashing me those irresistible dimples. “Don’t get face-plant-on-the-concrete drunk on me.”
“I’m a good girl,” I crooned.
“Don’t bet on it.”
Jensen took a sip of his champagne and then set it down. “Now, before we get there, I do have your Christmas present.”
“My what? But it’s New Year’s and I thought we weren’t exchanging gifts.” We had decided on Christmas Eve since our relationship had been on the rocks that we would hold off on presents.
“Yes. Then, fine, your New Year’s present.”
“But I don’t have anything for you.”
Jensen leveled me with a flat look. “I absolutely do not need anything.”
He procured a black velvet box from his jacket, and I stared at it in awe. When he tried to hand it to me, I just continued to look at it. I’d never gotten anything like this in my life, and I didn’t even know what it was. He was taking this making-up thing to a new level.