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There was a soft knock at the door as Sarah peeked her head in. “Oh, you’re already awake,” she said in a soft voice. “I just wanted to be sure you were going to have enough time to get ready before Mason gets here.”

“He’s not coming,” I whispered as I stared blankly at the wall in front of me, not even turning to look at Sarah.

“What do you mean he’s not coming?” Out of the corner of my eye I saw her step further into the room.

I remained motionless. “He missed his flight.”

Sarah sat down on the bed. “Are you being serious?” My eyes remained locked on the wall ahead of me as I silently handed Sarah my phone. “Oh, shit. I’m so sorry, Anna,” she said in a whisper as she scrolled through the messages.

I finally turned to look at her. “Me too.” My voice came out gravelly. “This is why I was so hesitant to do it, Sarah…why I was so scared to take this leap. When you’re this far apart, things are bound to go wrong. When they do, at the minimum, it’s harder to fix and, sometimes, it’s completely impossible.” I could feel my heart breaking into little pieces as the reality sunk in. Mason wasn’t going to be there. He wasn’t coming. My greatest fear about the night had come true.

Sarah handed me my phone back. “Anna, let me call Ron and I’ll cancel our dinner plans. I’ll text Bree and ask her to do the same. We’ll go with you as your dates and then we can all come back here together after the show is over.”

I shook my head. “That’s incredibly sweet of you, but I don’t want you to cancel your plans. I’ll just go and meet you there later like we’d planned.”

Sarah scrunched her face up in concern. “That doesn’t seem right. This is your big night, Anna. You shouldn’t have to go alone.”

“Well, choices have consequences,” I said bitterly. “I chose to take a big leap that failed and this is the consequence of it. Plus, I don’t think I’m going to have much fun tonight. Since I’m one of the artists featured, I’m required to stay for the whole show. I’ll just go, put my time in, and come home.”

“I don’t want this to be ruined for you, Anna,” Sarah said sincerely. “You’ve worked so hard to be a part of this show and I know how much this night means to you.” I didn’t even know how to respond. I wanted to tell her it was already ruined, but I didn’t want to be a bitch to my best friend on top of everything else that had already happened. “Are you going to call him?” Sarah asked.

I thought for a moment. “Not now. I need to get ready. I can’t be late. Besides, there’s not really any words to fix it at this point.”

Sarah opened her mouth like she was going to say something but quickly closed it. Instead, she reached out and squeezed my hand. “All right. I’ll leave you to get ready. Let me know if you need anything.”

I nodded and squeezed her hand back. “Thanks.”

I took a long, hot shower and then carefully applied my makeup and curled my hair. Finally, it was time for me to slip into the pink dress. When I took my new heels out of the box and slid them on, I looked in my full-length mirror. I had to admit I looked pretty damn hot. Hot, but really sad.

I’d been so excited about that night and wearing my new pink dress with Mason. Only the excitement I thought I’d feel had been replaced by sadness and anger. I hated the dress and everything the night was supposed to be…but never would.

Chapter 19

The Spring Art Show

WHEN I WALKED INTO the Spring Art Show, I was genuinely surprised at how many people were already there. Much like the previous year when I went as Oliver’s date, the entire art building had been transformed to look like a beautiful high-end gallery. People milled around in various attire sipping champagne from fluted glasses. There were women wearing everything from extravagant full-length beaded ball gowns to conservative black dresses to casual wear. There were men in tuxes right alongside men in slacks and ties. There were even a few wearing jeans. It really was a little bit of everything that night.

I grabbed a glass of champagne from the silver tray carried by the waiter walking past me and drank it down in one gulp. The waiter stopped as I put the empty glass back on his tray and traded it for a full one. He chuckled. “That was pretty impressive.”

I glanced at the waiter. He was wearing a traditional, crisp, white dress shirt and black slacks with a matching black vest and bow tie. If I had to guess, I would’ve said he was about my age. I took a big gulp out of my second glass of champagne. “What can I say? I’m a woman of many talents.” A woman of many talents who was taking advantage of free champagne to try to forget the fact her heart had been ripped to shreds and there was a bottomless pit of hurt and disappointment in her stomach. No big deal.

The waiter either didn’t catch the sarcasm in my voice, or didn’t seem to care. “Are you one of the artists featured tonight?” he asked. I nodded as I tipped the champagne glass to my lips. He raised a questioning eyebrow at me. “Well then it appears you are a woman of many talents.” He took the now empty second glass out of my hand as he winked at me.

“She has a great many talents you will never know. Now run along, waiter.” Oliver spit out the last word almost like it was some vile insult as he came up beside me.

The waiter’s cheeks flushed pink. “Yes, sir,” he mumbled as he turned quickly and walked away before I could say anything.

I turned to Oliver and glared at him. “You didn’t have to be such a colossal asshole to him.”

Oliver smirked. “He was below your standards.”

I crossed my arms over my chest as I continued to glare at Oliver. “Apparently my standards are not very high. Or did you forget I dated you? The bar doesn’t get much lower than that.”

Oliver threw his head back and laughed. “Always with the sharp tongue, Anna, darling. You’re so sexy when you get all riled up.”

I tried to keep myself from gagging. “What do you want, Oliver?”

Oliver raised one of his perfectly arched eyebrows, which I knew for fact his vain ass waxed regularly. “I was so hoping to meet your date tonight…the great mystery man.”

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