Don't Kiss Him Good-Bye (25 page)

“Chloe
is
one of your group, right?” I said.

“Ah . . . ,” Penny said, grinning. “I had no idea that was who would be first on your mind. Though I should have. No, I mean—” she scanned the room and finally found whom she was looking for, then pointed—“them!”

Chapter 55

I followed to where she pointed and saw
them
. Rhys! With Natalie! At that exact moment, Rhys caught my eye, grinned, and then leaned in to kiss Natalie. She did not back away.

Even though I hadn’t wanted to be here with him, I was shocked. I felt cold and my hands shook and I wanted to sit down. It all made sense now, and I should have figured it out much sooner. I felt betrayed. And then angry—my parents and I had paid to bring them here in a limo! And then . . . relief. I had dodged the bullet, as we Americans would say.

“Sav, are you okay?” Penny asked. “I’ve got to get back to Oliver.”

“I’m fine,” I said. “Have a great time. I’ll take some good snaps of you and see you tomorrow, right?”

“Right.” She squeezed my arm, then glided back to her date and their table.

I hung out in the corner for a minute to steady my hands and then got back to work. I walked along the edges of the room and also on the outside porticoes, taking photos. I have to admit, I was scanning the room for another couple, even though I wasn’t sure I wanted to see them.

But I did. Tommy looked fantastic in his tux and tails, as I knew he would. He had his hair trimmed just the tiniest amount so that it wasn’t exactly short, but it was clear he’d attended to it for the night. Chloe’s dress wasn’t awkward, despite Penny’s faithful protestations. She looked great. But she wasn’t smiling. She was obviously angry. I suppose I should have been glad, because it seemed she was keeping a physical distance between her and Tommy.

Not wanting to be a stalker, I went back to work, heavyhearted, and stayed in the shadows. I promised myself I would not train my superzoom lens on them to see if they kissed or not.

The night went by more quickly than I’d thought it would, and people began to filter out of the ballroom. I was hanging in the back, resting. I’d taken enough snaps for the paper, for sure. I’d told the coat check people I’d stay and help them clean up afterward.

I heard a commotion and an angry, raised voice in one corner. I stood up to see where the noise was coming from. It was the corner where the Aristocats were hanging out. After popping off my lens cap, I aimed my camera in that direction. I wasn’t snooping. I was a reporter. Right?

The group closed in around the commotion, keeping it as private as possible, and the voices had already been lowered. The band struck up another song to keep things moving along. If I hadn’t had my superzoom, I probably wouldn’t have been able to see what had happened. But I did have superzoom. Chloe had thrown her purse on the floor, where it still lay, and had turned her back to Tommy, who looked pleadingly at her at first; then he walked away.

I couldn’t stand there like a CIA agent with my lens trained on them any longer, so I put the camera away. Shortly thereafter, their group dissolved, and about half an hour later, nearly everyone was ready to leave.

Lovers’ spat,
I thought with regret. I packed my camera away and went to help the coat check guys break down the closet and tag the few coats that had been accidently left behind. They’d bring them to the school’s lost and found the next week.

“Savvy, would you mind sweeping up the entry hall?” one of the guys asked.

“Not at all.” I’d texted my mother, and she said she’d be here in half an hour.

I finished sweeping and then took my broom and stood in the ballroom, enjoying the music that the band generously kept playing while the hospitality crew cleaned up. I scanned the room, noting the painted frescoes on the ceiling, when I saw . . . Tommy! In the corner where he’d been sitting with Chloe and the others.

He caught my eye and, after reaching under one of the tables, came to where I was standing in the doorway. “Hey.”

“Hey.” I wished I hadn’t been standing there gripping a broom. “I thought I saw you leave.”
Oh!
I blushed furiously at that. Now he’d know that I’d been watching him!

He grinned. I’d been caught. But maybe it had helped him to be more honest himself. “I did leave—the boys took all the girls home. But I had to come back. My, uh, mobile phone had been lost. But I found it hidden in one of those.” He swept a hand toward the thick puddles of velvet draperies spilling onto the floor.

“Lost?” I said.

“Well,” he admitted, “Chloe had put it in her purse for the dance. And when she threw her purse, my phone went flying, along with everything else in her bag. I didn’t want to hold up the whole limo looking for it. I forgot about it till the ride home.”

I didn’t ask, but he volunteered. “I’d told her when she asked me to the ball months ago that we’d just be going as friends, and she said okay. Bill and Maddie were going. Our whole group was going, and it seemed like it was going to be fun. But I guess, in the end, she wasn’t really okay with it at all. The friends-only thing. She thought I’d change my mind about it between then and now, but I hadn’t and, uh, it came to a head tonight.”

I tried to keep the smile off my face. I was sorry for her—I was. But honestly? She’d acted like a brat several times now, and I didn’t think she deserved him.

“Silly of me, eh, to think that would all work out?” Tommy asked.

“No,” I said, “I understand perfectly.”
More than you know.

“So what happened to Rhys?”

I fished for the right words to say and finally hooked them. I looked at my broom and then up again, grinning. “Let’s just say that Rhys is no Prince Charming. I came on assignment. Photojournalism for the paper.”

“So you didn’t get to dance all night?”

“Afraid not. But it’s okay. I came to do a good job, and I did. And,” I said, particularly happy that I could share this news with him since he’d been telling me for months that he was looking for something I’d written in the paper, “Jack is giving me a full article next month. With a byline. I’ll finally have something in the paper for you to read.”

Tommy nodded. “Shame that you didn’t get to dance, though.” The band started a new song. “One of my favorites!” He took my hand and glanced at the other, holding the broom. “Put the mop and bucket away, Cinderella.”

I dropped the broom and he led me just to the edge of the dance floor.

There were literally five people or fewer in the room, so I didn’t feel self-conscious at all, and honestly, I probably wouldn’t have noticed if there were hundreds of people. I didn’t even remember what song was playing. In my mind, it was Taylor Swift playing “You Belong with Me.”

I wasn’t wearing my beautiful dress, and this wasn’t how I’d planned it. But it was all the more wonderful for being unexpected. My first dance.

Afterward he smiled at me and I smiled back, and the band packed up. He headed toward the door; his dad was waiting for him in the parking lot. Just when he was still within earshot but too far away for me to respond, he turned back and said, “Oh, and, Savvy? I’ve already read quite a bit of your writing.” With that, he laughed a little and waved good-bye.

I stopped dead in my tracks.
What?

Chapter 56

We went to the first service the next day, but I didn’t stay for Sunday school because we had to get home and get ready for the garden and tea party.

My phone buzzed twenty minutes before we were to leave. It was Penny.

Be sure to do your hair in those long curls. And wear the earrings, too.

What was up with that? A small quiver of insecurity wavered through me, thinking that maybe she wasn’t sure if we were good enough for her crowd.
I already talked to her about that,
I reminded myself.
I’m going to believe her.

Shortly thereafter I stood in front of the mirror with the Faerie dress on. As I looked at it, I prayed for Becky and her ministry, and I knew—just knew—that my work with Be@titude wasn’t over. It was only beginning.

I’d curled my hair in the long, loose curls Penny had insisted upon; the peridot earrings were buttoned in my lobes. When I went downstairs, my dad pretended to fall backward. “You can’t leave the house like that! They’ll take you to Hollywood. Or it’ll cause a gun riot in the streets, with the boys fighting over you.”