“You’re worried about the cameras?” Fae snorted. “What about Cara? She’s going to flip when she sees you with Sebastian.”
“I hadn’t even thought of that,” I moaned, feeling my apprehension build further. “She’ll probably scratch my eyes out in the ladies’ room.”
Fae laughed, an excited gleam in her eyes. “I’d like to see her try.”
“I’m beginning to think you have a fixation with danger,” I said, staring at her with concern.
“Adrenaline junkie,” Simon agreed, nodding as he applied a light coat of pale pink to my big toe.
“Whatever.” Fae shrugged. “I have a feeling that tomorrow is going to be a night to remember.”
“Good memories, I hope.” I looked at them, trying to ignore the feeling of foreboding that was chewing at the lining of my stomach.
“Don’t worry,” Simon said dismissively, gesturing toward my Cinderella dress where it hung on the closet door. “When you’re wearing a custom Simon Gilbert design, nothing can go wrong.”
***
By the time Simon and Fae left for the night, I’d been buffed, plucked, painted, and groomed within an inch of my life — I was more than ready for Centennial tomorrow night. They hugged me goodbye with promises of seeing me at the gala and threats to kill me if I didn’t wear my hair up the way they’d instructed. Apparently, if I didn’t force my locks into a perfect up-do, it would ruin the lines of Simon’s dress and be a grand-scale catastrophe.
I rolled my eyes and promised to replicate the hairdo to the best of my limited abilities.
As I closed the door behind them, I felt Bash press against my back and his arms slide around my waist. His chin came down to rest on my shoulder as I leaned back into him, and for a moment I simply closed my eyes and enjoyed the long-forgotten sensation of a casual embrace with the man I loved.
“Can I show you something?” I whispered, tilting my face back so his lips rested against my forehead.
“Of course,” he said, turning me in his arms. He cupped my face and kissed me lightly. I lost myself in his kiss for several moments, tightening my arms around him and immersing myself fully in the feeling of his lips on mine. When I pulled away, I knew my cheeks were flushed with both happiness and desire.
I twined my fingers through his and pulled him toward the closet, where I’d stored most of my things. Reaching inside, I pulled out the Jamie Box and walked back to thecouch with Sebastian close behind me. I set the wooden box lightly on the coffee table, absently tracing the carvings with my fingertips as I turned to look at Bash.
“This is the most important thing I own,” I told him, a smile tugging at my lips. “It’s from Jamie.”
Bash smiled involuntarily at the thought of my brother.
I slid the box in front of him on the table. “Open it.”
Bash lifted the lid, his eyes catching immediately on the embedded photograph of me and my twin. When his fingers moved to skim over the letters inside I felt my eyes begin to tingle, the heartache still fresh after three years.
“One hundred letters,” I explained. “All for different dates and occasions.”
“For the big moments in your life,” Bash said, flipping gently through the stack and reading the messages inscribed on the front of each envelope.
“For the small ones, too.”
I passed him my one of my favorites:
FOR A DAY WHEN LOVE STINKS (YEAH, YEAH)
As he read, the smile on his face grew to a grin.
Light of My Life,
You’re moping. I get it — heartbreak sucks.
Well, I don’treallyget it, because I’ve never been in love, per se. Not unless you’re counting my obsession with Sophia Vergara who, one of these days — you mark my words — will realize that the love of her life is a twenty-one year-old amputee in Georgia.
But you, my darling sister, have been in love. And afterward, your little heart was broken and I was forced to listen to John Mayer breakup songs for almost two years. (Our apartment walls are treacherously thin, for future reference.) Maybe even now, a few years down the road, you’re reading this letter because you’ve been reminded of that same heartbreak. Maybe you’ve experienced a fresh one. I don’t know, I’m not there. (Dead, remember?)
I do know one thing, though. You’re brave. It takes guts to give your heart to someone else, and trust that they’ll take care of it. And some day, you’ll find that someone who makes all the other someones in your life seem insignificant.