Or the fit of hissuit. Vicki had almost giggled hysterically at hissuit, for heaven’s sake. It wasn’t showy. His assistant’s dark orange-brown suit and flashy orange shirt,thatwas showy. Zane Bellamy wore a deep heather grey with silver threads woven in at just the right places to catch light and give his suit an extra littlesomethingthat wouldn’t be recognizable from more than three feet away.
Which Vicki was. Three feet away. From Zane Bellamy, fashion designer to the stars.
He was sotall.
She was fairly certain she said, “Hreebee hee hee hee tee hee shloipp goible,” or something equally incoherent and stupid when he greeted her with a politely warm smile, but it wasn’t her fault. He had shoulders roughly the width of the gymnasium itself, framed perfectly by the mesmerizing fabric of his suit, and it nipped down to his waist in a way that didn’t scream ‘skinny suit,’ but which somehow made his waist look exceptionally slim and narrow. And even under the suit jacket, the fit of his slacks made it look somehow like his legs went on forever.
Vicki, right there on the stage, had an unfortunately vivid image of those long long legs wrapping around her and pullingher close, a warm delicious tangle of bodies, and lost any hope of remembering how to talk.
The worse part was she only got to look at him for a few seconds before they were supposed to smile for the cameras, and then, cruelly, some of her coworkers dragged her away for pictures with them and to ask what it was like to meet Zane Bellamy. Victoria hiss-howled, “I don’tknow, youtook me away from himbefore I got totalkto him!” at Sondra, the other first grade teacher, who at least had the grace to look abashed.
Vicki shot one panicked glance over her shoulder, wondering if Mr. Bellamy thought she was unforgivably rude for being hauled away. They were supposed to talk about a dress, which she couldn’t from way over here. Although she wasn’t sure how she was supposed to talk atallinstead of just drooling over the fabulously gorgeous man on the stage.
She caught just the briefest glimpse of him looking out over the gathering—everybody in Virtue seemed to be there—with a slightly confused, bereft expression on his wolf-sharp features.
Then his assistant tucked a hand into Bellamy’s elbow. The fashion designer sighed, smiled briefly, and covered the orange-suited man’s hand with his own as he allowed himself to be led off stage.
All of Vicki’s fantasies immediately collapsed. Of course the world-famous fashion designer who had fled his small, conservative home town the moment he’d graduated high school had an intimate relationship with another man. Shehadwondered, seeing pictures of him on the red carpet, and she hadn’t just wondered about his relationships with the women.
A thread of hope immediately wove itself back through her fantasies. There was nothing wrong with fantasizing, anyway, “And it’s notthatconservative,” she said under her breath, before adding, argumentatively, “sort of.”
“What?” One of her friends, a fellow teacher and a Virtue native, elbowed her. “What?”
“Virtue. Is not that conservative. Except when it is.”
Her friend, Carol, made a noise of agreement almost lost in the general uproar of the crowd. “You’re not wrong. There are a lot of old families here who want it to stay the same, and quite a few newcomers the past few years who are hauling it into the present day despite the old farts. Of which I am not one, even if I technically am.”
Vicki laughed. “You’re not that old.”
“I’m sixty-seven.”
“And young at heart.” Vicki turned to see if she could catch another glimpse of Zane Bellamy, but he was long gone. “Did you know him when he was younger?”
“I taught him in high school, in fact. Really artistic kid. Quiet. Not necessarily shy, but quiet. He always knew what he wanted, and it was, among other things, to get the hell out of Virtue.”
“Too artsy for a small town?”
Carol, who had learned not to miss a single trick in her sixty-seven years, cocked a white eyebrow at Victoria, like she knew exactly what Vicki was trying not to ask directly. “Too artsy for his father, anyway. His dad had—probably still has—ideas about what kind of person his son should be, and Zane…” She shrugged. “Wasn’t any of them.”
“Is he here tonight?” Vicki glanced around as if she’d somehow recognize Mr. Bellamy Senior out of the crowd of hundreds whowerethere.
“For Zane’s sake, I hope not. I don’t think he’d be celebrating.”
Vicki sighed. “Well, that’s awful. I’d think you’d be proud of a child who’s reached the levels of professional success Mr. Bellamy has. No wonder he left so quickly. This must not be much fun for him.” A well of regret filled her chest. Thewhole contest was such a wonderful thing forher. Vicki hadn’t considered the possibility it might be miserable for the designer whose dress she’d won. “I’ll try to be nice to him.”
Carol laughed, a quick surprised sound. “Do. I don’t imagine he’s expecting Virtue in general to be nice to him. Sycophantic, maybe, but not nice.”
“You know normal people don’t use words like ‘sycophantic’ in conversation,” Vicki said dryly. “They say ‘brown-nosing,’ or ‘kissing ass.’”
The other teacher sniffed. “Children cannot expand their vocabulary if they’re not exposed to new words. Neither can anyone else,” she added more thoughtfully. “Maybe I should try to start a town-wide spelling bee or something. The New Words Spelling Bee Challenge.”
“You’re a lunatic. Oh, god, is that a reporter? They can’t want to talk to me, can they? I’m not the famous one!”
Vicki had actually seen the woman descending on them on a lot of red carpet press junkets. She was small, curvy, black-haired, and usually looked like she was having a great time. She looked that way now, in fact, a huge smile plastered across her face, even though Vicki was fairly certain terror was plastered across herownface. “Hi, Ms. Hawthorne! I’m Grace Chen with the All-Arena Entertainment channel and I hoped to ask you a few questions tonight!”
“I know you,” Vicki said weakly. “You’re kind of great.”
Grace Chen laughed out loud, a big sound that echoed up to the gym’s high ceiling. “Only kind of? No, I’m flattered, and I thinkthisis kind of great! What do you think of being the Starlight Ball’s couture gown winner?”
