I put my glass down on a coffee table, heading back inside the changing room to take off my beautiful dress and hand it to Danielle.
I’d already changed into my jeans and tank top when I heard Isabelle whisper, “Laney’s sooo happy.”
I peeked out of the changing room again.
“Are you girls talking about me?” I asked.
“No,” Tess answered suspiciously fast.
Isabelle was avoiding my eye. Aha. They thought they could fool me this easily? I wasn’t even tipsy yet. My instincts were still sharp. Others were fast asleep, judging by the fact that I stepped onto the curtain, nearly ripping it, on my way out of the changing room.
“I definitely heard my name,” I said. Isabelle sighed, shrugging.
?
??Fine, we were talking about you. Nothing bad, I promise.”
“I didn’t think it was bad. I just want in on it.”
Tess laughed. “You, miss, are very brave. Usually when someone in the family realizes we’re talking about them, they run in the opposite direction.”
I sat next to them on the velvet couch, sipping from my glass.
“So? Which one of you will fess up?” I asked.
“Shall we be one hundred percent truthful?” Isabelle whispered to Tess, who nodded excitedly.
“Well, I was just telling Tess that you look very happy. And that I’ve known you for a long time, and on a happiness scale of one to ten, you’re somewhere at twenty.”
“That’s very accurate,” I confirmed, sipping some more champagne. This was fun.
“She gets so exuberant when she talks about Cole. Her voice gets a little higher pitched, and she smiles all the time. I can tell from her voice,” Isabelle added.
Tess held up her glass toward me, winking. “You definitely passed the test.”
I felt my eyes widen. “I was on a probation period?”
“Well, not exactly, but I was trying to gauge just how much you’re into Cole.”
“Very, very much,” I assured her.
“I like this evening. So full of confessions,” Tess said with a whisper.
“You have one to make too?”
“Well, now that we’ve established you’re super into Cole, I can get attached to you. I don’t have to hold back anymore.”
I pulled her into a hug, and we both laughed. I was bursting with affection for Tess. I’d never met anyone who wore her heart on her sleeve the way she did.
“I knew I liked you from the first time I met you,” I told her.
She straightened up, grinning. “You were such a champ, calming Skye and Rob, putting up with everyone in the family panicking.” To Isabelle, she said, “She’s a tough one.”
“And don’t I know it?”
Danielle returned with the dress just then, asking if I wanted to try it again. Since she’d really only shaved off a few inches and hemmed it, it wasn’t necessary. I was just about to head off to pay when my phone beeped. I had a message from Cole.
Cole: How are my girls doing?