She shook her head and then they went to join in on the hugging.
The conversation bounced around like a Ping-Pong ball stuck in between those bouncing rubber stoppers but the mood shifted and Will felt, for the first time in a long time, that even if they weren’t perfect or didn’t see eye-to-eye, maybe they’d all be okay. With one another, their roles in the company, and themselves. The direction of their own, individual futures. And the verbal acknowledgment of his feelings for Lexi in a room full of people he loved made him 100 percent sure of what he wanted down the road. He wanted Alexandria Danby, his fake fiancée, to be his real wife.
Thirty-five
She wouldnotfreak out. It was a costume party. She could wear anything. But then Kyra suggested Will and Lexi go to the Halloween party as a bride and groom.
“It’ll be funny,” she said. “Adorable.” And since the engagement wasn’t real, what harm would it cause?
Not so funny since she couldn’t find a goddamn wedding dress at any secondhand shops. Why had she left it to the last minute?
She threw her car into park, grabbed her things, and made a dash through the rain into the house.
When she got inside, she leaned against the door and let out a long sigh. She’d left everything to the last minute because she was running out of minutes in a day to get everything done. She didn’t even want to go to this party tonight. She’d suggested to Will that since she’d helped Ethan’s event planner pull everything together and it was expected to be a big bash, maybe they could quietly bow out and dress up, or down, as a couple on their honeymoon at his place.
But people had been invited. People from her past, their present. His sisters. He’d told her that family tempers and feelings had been tentatively smoothed out and that Maddie and Rachel were having a baby. She wanted to congratulate them in person. She sighed heavily,making little droplets of water from the hair hanging in her face scatter. This was why her mother liked to hide away in the house.
After hanging her jacket and purse, she went upstairs, wondering if she could make something work with one of the dresses Kyra had lent her.
Gwen, who had been having more good days than bad lately, was curled in her chair reading, a cup of tea at her side. She looked up as Lexi hit the top step.
“Hi. Looks like it’s pretty wet out there.”
“Seattle in the fall. I’m not a fan today.”
Gwen put down her book. “Your party is tonight, right?”
Lexi walked over to the fireplace and stood in front of it, hoping to rid herself of the chill.
“Yeah. I’m not really in the mood to go.”
“Me neither,” Gwen said, smiling.
Lexi shot her a narrow-eyed look. “Were you ever going to?”
Gwen shrugged, still smiling.
“I have to,” Lexi said. “I want to see how it all turns out, if I’m honest. Plus, it might look strange if I don’t show.”
“You worry too much about what other people think.”
Since Will was excited and she was falling into some pretty serious feelings about a man she was only supposed to have pretend feelings about—or a pretend engagement with—everything was getting muddled.
“It’s not that. Never mind, it doesn’t matter. I have to go figure out what I’m wearing.”
Lexi started for her room.
“Aren’t you going as a bride?” Gwen got up from her chair.
Lexi whirled, her emotions fraying at the edge. “I was. But finding a dress at the last minute is apparently impossible. I’ll see if one of Kyra’s dresses will work. Will and I can go as a prom couple. This is stupid. I hate Halloween. I’m going to shower first.”
She didn’t mean to snap. At the bathroom door, she turned toapologize but Gwen had already walked away. Lexi yelled at herself in her head.Way to take it out on your mom.
She texted Maisie before putting on her shower playlist, which would hopefully pull her out of her mood.
Lexi
I cannot find a wedding dress. This is too much and, I think, a sign.
