Page 112 of Kiss Me Forever

“Is Travis coming to the party tonight?” I asked. He’d gotten back yesterday from a trip to the coast where he’d flown to convince a hotel manager to come work for him. Maybe he was tired.

“Of course. My brother wouldn’t miss a party.”

“Great.”

Because it was early morning, there was no traffic on the way to the airport. I was so excited that Aunt Dana was coming to visit. I couldn't believe it’d taken all these years to convince her, but she changed her mind when I mentioned that I would also introduce her to Luke.

I also feared she might give me an earful about the money. The second I got the check from Jenkins, I immediately called her, telling her what I wanted to do. She was vehemently against it initially, saying it wasn't my responsibility to do such a thing and that it was my prize money and so on, but she accepted it in the end. At least, I hoped her visit wasn't to convince me not to give it away. I wanted to do this one thing for her after all she’d done for me.

I was so incredibly proud that I won the competition. A funny thing had happened when I called Jenkins to tell him about my decision. He said he understood. They would offer the internship to the second-place winner, though they'd have to change the list of the top ten a bit. When I asked why, he said Carson had called him to say that he wanted to raise a complaint against me on the basis that I'd started a relationship with my mentor and that could have influenced the quality of my work. As a result, Jenkins disqualified him because Carson had gone against one of the core rules of the competition: do not attempt to discredit your competitors. He said it had happened so often in the past that they had to put an actual written rule in the contract. Jenkins had gone on to explain that I hadn't broken a rule.

I loved it when life found a way to punish assholes.

When I told Luke, he said he was going to buy Jenkins a drink the first chance he got.

I kept rising on my toes, trying to spot Aunt Dana among all the travelers. When I finally saw her, my heart was about to burst with joy. I ran toward her and wrapped my arms around her, and she hugged me back. "My darling girl, you look so good."

"Thanks for coming, Aunt Dana. I'm so happy to see you." She smelled like freesias and mint, the perfume she'd worn for most of her life. I would forever associate that fragrance with her. I took the carry-on for her, moving toward Luke, who immediately took it from me.

He held his hand out. "It's great to meet you."

"And you, Luke. It's great to meet you too."

"You're the reason my aunt is here,” I told him. “I know it's not because of my promotion."

“That's not true," Aunt Dana said. "But I can't deny it was a good incentive to meet this young man too. See if he's worthy of you."

"No pressure," Luke said.

I laughed nervously. He might think Aunt Dana was joking, but I knew she wasn’t.

We went right back to Luke's apartment. On the drive, I kept regurgitating facts about Chicago and explaining all the places I recognized, or knew, or were of interest as we passed them by.

"We’ll have breakfast ready soon," Luke said as we stepped inside.

"Good because I'm starving,” Aunt Dana said. “Thank you so much for offering to accommodate me."

"Of course. Meg's family is mine too."

My aunt's eyes widened just a little. She was liking what she was hearing. I was sure of that. And as we entered the living room, she took stock of all the flowers. The corners of her mouth lifted in a smile. I looked appreciatively at Luke, giving him both thumbs up. It took a lot to make Aunt Dana smile, and he'd managed to do that almost immediately.

"I’m making omelets and pancakes," Luke said as we all sat on the bar chairs around the kitchen island. He also made coffee for everyone.

"This is a very beautiful place you have. Is it close to the office?" she asked.

"Yes. We don't need too much commute time in the morning, maybe twenty minutes."

"Do you need to rest?" I asked her. "I've made appointments for both of us to get our hair done for the party tonight. It’s across the street. We couldn’t get them at the same time, so one starts in twenty minutes and the other one in two hours."

"I'd like to rest for a bit, if that's okay with you. Thank you for making the appointment."

I laughed. As if she would show up to my party without her hair done. "A lady must always look her best," Aunt Dana always said.

She lived a frugal life but strongly believed that one should get their hair professionally styled for a big event. I was happy I could spoil her today.

I was excited to go too. I wanted to feel like a million bucks tonight. I was a bit nervous about leaving the two of them alone, but I didn't have the heart to drag her there with me if she needed to rest. Besides, I was sure she was warming up to Luke already.

I showed her the guest bedroom before heading to my appointment. I was having a blowout only, but before that, they washed my hair and applied a fancy cream to make it shine. I couldn't wait to see the result. It was relaxing to have someone else wash your hair and massage your scalp.

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