The taxi driver gave a nod and pulled back out into the traffic.
The city that never slept. There was never a truer word. Even though it was after midnight, the streets of New York were still busy. Lots of people were laughing and joking in the streets—it was almost just as busy as it had been during the day.
She started to say a silent prayer that Jules hadn’t gone out for the evening. What bar had they met in before? Maybe Anissa should try there. She glanced down at the ballgown and pulled a face. She might just be a little overdressed for a bar.
The taxi pulled up outside Jules’s apartment and Anissa thanked the driver and jumped out, her bare foot instantly coming into contact with the freezing ground as she limped to the doorway.
She winced and pressed Jules’s buzzer. ‘Please be in, please be in,’ she repeated, hoping against hope it might have some magical effect.
Thankfully, as soon as she’d sounded the buzzer Jules answered the door. Her eyes swept up and down Anissa’s length before she stepped outside and slid her arm around Anissa, ushering her in.
Anissa was embarrassed. She’d allowed the hem of Jules’s beautiful gown to be caught in the dirty snow on the streets of New York.
‘I didn’t know where to go,’ she gasped. ‘I’m sorry for turning up so late.’
Jules’s face was set firmly. She hurried Anissa across her living room and settled her on the sofa before sitting on the low table in front of her.
‘What happened?’
Anissa couldn’t help herself. She started babbling. ‘Oh, the dress. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get it dirty. But I lost a shoe on my way out and couldn’t go back for it. I’ll pay for any repairs.’
She was suddenly conscious of the fact she was back in Jules’s living room. All around her was the gorgeous array of glittering dresses on headless mannequins. She gave a little shiver as she pulled the firm bodice of her dress away from her skin.
She’d practically ruined one of these beautiful dresses. Jules would be mad. She would be right to be mad. Something else Anissa had messed up.
Tears started to fall down her face. ‘I’m sorry, lots of people asked about the dress. I told them who designed it. I told everyone who spoke to me.’
Jules shook her head and frowned, leaning over and putting her warm hand over Anissa’s cold one. ‘Stop it. Stop talking about the dress.’ She picked up the tablet sitting on the table and spun it around. ‘I know you told everyone I’m the designer. You’ve already hit the news websites.’
Anissa let out a gasp and pulled the tablet towards her. There she was, standing on the red carpet with Leo’s arm around her waist. They were looking at each other and smiling as though there wasn’t anyone else around them. As if they were actually in a private bubble all of their own.
They looked like a golden couple. And in Jules’s stunning dress she looked like a princess.
Jules pointed to the headline: ‘Billionaire’s Date is Belle of the Ball’.
She spoke carefully. ‘You’ve done me a million favours by wearing my dress. But push that aside. What’s wrong, Anissa? What happened tonight? Are you hurt?’
Anissa’s throat was tight. Hot tears spilled down her cheeks and her whole body tensed. ‘No. No. No one hurt me.’
Jules watched her for a few seconds, eyeing her carefully before giving a little nod of acceptance. ‘Okay, so you’re not hurt. So why have you turned up here...’ she looked down at the floor ‘...in the middle of the night and missing a shoe?’ Jules gave her head a little shake. ‘What did Mr Wonderful do?’
Anissa had finally started to breathe again. Her head was beginning to clear. She was here. She was in Jules’s house. She could stop. She could think.
‘He told me he loved me and asked me to stay.’ The words just burst from her mouth and she dissolved into tears again. This time it wasn’t just a few tears streaming down her cheeks. This time it was all out sobbing.
After a few quiet seconds Jules moved from the table and sat on the sofa next to Anissa, putting her arm around her and letting her rest her head on Jules’s shoulder while she sobbed.
It was almost as if everything that had been bubbling under the surface for so long had finally erupted. All the pent-up frustrations about who she was, what she was doing, and whether she’d be good enough again flowed from her. Her feelings for Leo had just brought everything to the surface. After years of being driven by an ambitious ex, she’d finally met someone who loved her for who she was—not who she could be.
After a while Jules patted her back. When she spoke her voice had an amused tone. ‘Anissa, I’m trying to work out why it’s such a disaster that a gorgeous billionaire has told you that he loves you, and asked you to stay in New York?’
‘Don’t say it like that,’ Anissa pleaded, knowing exactly how ironic it sounded.
‘How would you like me to say it?’ asked Jules.
Anissa’s phone buzzed again. It had buzzed almost continuously on the journey over here. She didn’t even have to turn it over to know who it was.
She shook her head fiercely. ‘I can’t. I just can’t. He told me that the gold medal was probably out of my reach. He told me to consider other plans. He wanted me to have a back-up plan. I’m not ready.’
Jules pulled back a little and gave her a look that was way beyond her young years.
‘That’s it,’ she said succinctly.
Anissa wiped some tears away. ‘What’s it?’
Jules gave a nod of her head. ‘That’s what the issue is, Anissa. And now you have to ask yourself why.’
Anissa was thoroughly confused. ‘What do you mean?’
Jules pushed herself up and walked through to the kitchen and switched on the coffee pot. She turned to face Anissa. ‘You said you’re not ready. That’s the crux of the matter. Now, you have to ask yourself why. Why are you not ready? He hasn’t said anything to you that you haven’t already considered yourself.’
Anissa shivered, even though the room was warm. She wasn’t sure she liked this line of questioning.
‘Do you love him?’ The question seemed to come out of the blue.
‘I... I... I...’ Anissa stumbled over the words.
Jules raised her eyebrows and walked back from the kitchen with a mug in either hand.
‘Do you love him?’ This time she was much firmer.
This time she didn’t think, the answer just bubbled over. ‘Of course I love him.’
There it was. How she felt. How she’d been feeling these last few days. She’d finally admitted it—she’d finally said it out loud.
Now it was real.
Jules eyebrows were still raised. ‘And that,’ she said as she waved the cups in the air, ‘is why we need coffee.’
* * *
Four cups of coffee later the early morning light was streaming into the room. Jules was lying on the sofa, her eyelids heavy. But Anissa hadn’t slept at all. She’d switched to hot water with lemon but every part of her body was still jangling.
The pale blue dress was now back on one of the mannequins. The bottom edges looked as if they had been dragged through a muddy puddle, and even from across the room Anissa could see that some of the sequins were hanging off.
She’d changed into a T-shirt and jeans belonging to Jules, along with a pair of thick socks and baseball boots.
Jules gave a groan and snuggled into one of the cushions on the sofa. She was obviously all talked out.
Even though Anissa had been drinking for hours, her throat still felt dry. Leo had told her that he loved her and she’d run away. He’d asked her to live with him and she’d practically bolted.
Instead of focusing on the fact she’d met a good, kind-hearted man who made her heart swell, she’d focused on her past. She’d focused on failure.
Her breathing stuttered and, as if in sym