She scoffed at me. “Had to fire the last one for sleeping with one of the maids.”
I stared at her, and after a few seconds, she started laughing. “I’m teasing, Nicky. I don’t like people enough to have a bunch of servants or whatever running around.”
With that, Maria and I followed her up the stairs to what I had assumed was a spare bedroom but actually just turned out to be a giant closet. Oh, so the girl wasrichrich. I glanced at her when she wasn’t looking. Holly wore jeans and faded rock-n-roll t-shirts. I think I’d only ever seen her in the same two pairs of shoes. It made sense, when I thought about it. She could always get us spots at some of the best restaurants, had all these connections, and could call in all these favors—I just never put two and two together. Now, staring at the massive array of clothes, I wondered about this other side of my friend I hadn’t seen, or paid attention to, before.
The three of us took turns helping each other into our gowns so we would be ready when the makeup artist got here.Holly laid out a pair of gold and diamond pendant earrings to go with her red gown, and then showed off this gorgeous bangle she had found. It was a golden snake with ruby eyes that rested its head on the top of her hand and wound its way up her arm.
I held it up to the light. “Christ, Holly. This is fucking beautiful! It’s perfect for you, too!”
She smiled at me. “I’m not normally one for the glamorous and shiny, but I couldn’t resist it. I got something for you guys, too!”
She handed Maria and me each a box with a pretty white bow on top.
Maria opened hers and immediately started talking animatedly in Spanish, something she did when she was incredibly excited. I marveled at the golden diadem she held aloft as she raved, though neither Holly nor I had a clue what she was saying. It was a delicate weaving of several gold bands, and a single teardrop diamond hung from the center. It would, quite literally, be the cherry on top of her outfit. She switched to English and looked over at me. “Nicky, open yours!”
I did so eagerly and, for a moment, I just stared at it. I wasn’t really sure what it was, or even how to wear it, but I could tell it was incredibly expensive and so beautiful it took my breath away. I clenched my jaw, trying to fight back tears, and looked up at Holly who was watching me carefully.
“I had it custom-made. It goes around your thigh and hangs down the outside of your leg. I thought it would look beautiful with your dress since it had those splits in the sides.”
I started crying in earnest, and they both hurried to me—together, we all just looked at the marvel I was holding in my hand.
Several strings of tiny sapphires hung from a band of dark, blue velvet. They fell almost to my knee, where they gathered into one singular band from which a tiny, silver fox dangled. Words couldn’t describe how absolutely beautiful it was. They were still hugging me when Holly said, “Maria helped design it. But we’ve been friends forover a year now. You’ve become someone we can rely on, someone we trust. You’re auntie to Maria’s kids, you put up with my shit. You’re my best friend—Maria’s too. And now Mac and Dalton are head over heels for you. We’re not letting you go. This is just… our way of saying welcome to the family.”
I started sobbing. They had no idea that I wasn’t some girl born and raised in Georgia. That my name wasn’t really Nicole. I mean, yeah—Nicole and I had our similarities. But she wasn’t me. And I wanted so very, very badly to tell them the truth. I had grown to love them both, just as I found myself deeply in love with Mac and Dalton. I hated it, but I had to see it through. Once I brought the DiAngelos down, I would tell them the truth. And I would pray to whatever god was in charge that they would be able to forgive me.
I was drying my eyes when the doorbell rang and Holly’s dog, Hugo, went ape shit. She hollered at him, “Oh sure, Maria and Nicky pull up and not a peep out of you, but suddenly you’re all attack, kill. Useless mutt.”
Her terse words would’ve been mildly alarming to an outsider, but I was fairly confident she would kill for that dog. We followed her to the top of the stairs, where we were met by Hugo who was still howling, but stopped once he realized we were there. He turned his attention to getting pets, and when Maria turned away from him, trying to avoid getting hair on her dress, he turned his soulful and sad eyes on me.
I knelt carefully and scratched the basset hound’s ears, and his whole butt wiggled. Hugo was about as bright as a box of rocks, but was the sweetest dog and utterly devoted to Holly.
Holly came back upstairs with a team of people behind her and Maria said, “Holly, I thought you said makeup artist. As in singular.”
Before Holly could answer, a girl with bright pink hair held out her hand. “Hi, I’m Morgan. I’m pretty fucking awesome, but I amnotWonder Woman. No way could Iget all three of you ready in time on my own. So I brought a few more Amazonian warriors, if you will.”
I instantly liked her open and friendly demeanor.
We each got assigned three people—one for hair, one for makeup, and even one for nails. My team consisted of a lady named Zoe, her twin sister named Chloe, and a guy named James. Everyone had come prepared—Chloe was toting a makeup and hair suitcase thing the size of a small motorcycle. James tried talking me into some crazy bejeweled nail idea, but I really wanted to keep it simple. We met halfway, me agreeing to a few silver embellishments on my thumb and ring fingers, and him agreeing not to turn my hands into a disco ball. Over at Holly’s chair, Morgan showed her an eyeshadow palette while another woman applied French tip acrylics. Maria had her head tipped back as a slender guy applied rouge to her full cheeks.
We sat in those chairs for almost four hours, the team of cosmeticians working at the speed of light to get us ready. The dinner started at seven, and we were cutting it fine. When we finally got up, the three of us stood in front of the small wall of mirrors in Holly’s closet room. A couple of the people gathered behind us wolf-whistled, and a few others cheered. We made a damn striking group. Holly’s red dress brought out the hazel in her eyes, Maria’s golden brown skin seemed to be literally glowing, and me? Well, I just couldn’t stop staring at the fox dangling on my thigh.
A horn honked downstairs, and we exchanged puzzled looks. Having gotten all packed up, Morgan and her team followed us down to the entryway. A sleek, black limousine waited out front, and Maria clapped her hands in delight. I looked at Holly, who shrugged.
“Wasn’t me.”
Morgan was loading up the cargo vans, and they all waved goodbye as they pulled past the limo. Just then, my phone dinged cheerfully. It was Mac, on our group chat.
“Enjoy the ride. We’ll see you soon, gorgeous.”
“It was my idea, by the way,” Dalton said.
“Bullshit.”
“Totally was. Love you, baby. Get here quick and save me from these lunatics.”
I laughed and showed Maria and Holly the string of texts. Maria twirled, the sequins on her dress catching the last of the evening light, making her look like a diamond.
The driver climbed out and opened the door for us. “Good evening, ladies. My name is Nicholas, and I will be your driver tonight. I hope the car is stocked to your liking. It is about a twenty-minute drive to our destination.”
