It won’t be perfect—not like the costumes Tobin put together. But I want to come as close as I can.
I want him to know I’ve thought about it, and worked on it, and tried hard to give him as much magic, and as muchyes,as I could.
“These could win hearts,” Stellar says dryly, handing me a pairof tan suede boots festooned with straps and hardware. They look like the love child of a one-night stand between an English saddle and a vat of glitter, which is a pretty reasonable compromise for boots I’m getting for free.
“I hope so. But there’s a decent chance I’ll come back single, dressed in period costume, not on Halloween.”
Stellar emerges from the closet to flop onto the bed. “You’re using your freak-out voice again.”
“I am not.”
“Let’s take a minute anyway.”
I throw myself facedown beside her. “This is unhinged. I’m terrified.”
Stellar’s voice is so full of love. “Did I tell you how proud I am of what you’ve done?”
My head comes up. “You are?”
“I am. I wasn’t an early fan of your evil plan, but I’ve never seen you so full oflife,Liz. You sort of… glowed, on that stage. You’re afraid today will be a huge fail, and you’re not backing down. I quit my job because of you.”
I sit up fast. “Stellar. You didn’t.”
“I did. I saw you going ovaries-to-the-wall for what you wanted and I thought, how can I give my thirties to a job that’s eating my soul? I want to be stronger than that. I want to believe I’ll be okay, no matter what. Same way I believe you’ll be okay.”
I’m emotional, and I haven’t even left the bedroom. “That’s very improv of you.”
She rolls her eyes. “I know. I’m surrounded by theater kids, and now I’ve got improv all over me. Get dressed; let’s see how everything works together.”
“Everybody decent?” Sharon peeks around the door.
“What do you think?” Stellar turns me toward Sharon and the mirror, smiling.
I look great. Not just the costume, but the look of uncertainty, and bravery, and hope.
But it’s not enough. “Something’s missing.”
“Chest hair,” Stellar suggests. “I have an eyeliner pencil you can use.”
“I know.” Sharon takes off her necklace and loops it around my neck. “Nope. You’re too pale for silver. You need gold.” She rummages in her daughter’s hanging jewelry organizer, handing me a pair of abstract gold dangle earrings before fastening a delicate gold chain at my nape, arranging the quarter-sized medallion so it rests between my collarbones. “Perfect.”
It’s lovely, but it needs… more. This has to be big. The biggest. The prompt said I have to think about what he needs to hear from me, and if I mess up the words, I need my costume to do some talking.
My text alert goes off. “Ugh, Amber,” I say before I can engage my filter.
Can we talk? I’m outside.
I told you where I am as a courtesy. I wasn’t inviting you over.
“You want me to get rid of her?” Stellar asks, drawing a threatening finger across her neck.
“I’ll be fine. Back in five.”
I jingle up the stairs in my cowboy sparkle boots and duck out the front door. I don’t have a ton of time, since I told Tobin I’d meet him at ten.
Well. I didn’t exactly tell him. I sent him a text last night.
I know you wanted time to think, and Friday night screwed that up already. Just wanted to say, if you want to do the scenario tomorrow, then I want to, too. You don’t have to reply. I’ll come over at ten. If you’re not home, I’ll take that as a no.
