10
PerfectFirst Date
Hazel
Most people who met Nana Beatrice and lived to tell the tale knew she was a woman to be reckoned with. ‘A shark wearing the face of an old woman’, one of her ex-husbands had called her. He hadn’t been entirely wrong.
But Nana wasn’t without her kindness. It was just that most of it went to her dogs.
Every year, the Rescue Paws Gala was held at Nana’s cottage. Well, she liked to call it a cottage, but, in reality, it was a massive Victorian estate that she’d inherited from my long-dead grandfather. The event drew crowds not just from Oakhaven, but from all over the country. And even when I tried to avoid it, Nana somehow managed to persuade me to come.
This year, I stood in front of her gate, wearing a dress that felt like armor.
This morning, I’d panicked. While I was staring at the dress hanging on my closet door, my confidence crumbled. The dress was beautiful. Bold. EverythingVixen promised it would be when she’d helped me pick it out.
It was also terrifying.
So I’d done the unthinkable and called Vixen.
My unexpected new friend had shown up thirty minutes later with a professional makeup kit. She’d seated me at my vanity and gone to work with the precision of a surgeon.
“We’re not hiding anything.” She tilted my chin up to catch the light. “We’re just pointing out what’s already there. Those gorgeous green eyes. Those cheekbones. That sinful mouth you hide behind polite smiles.”
The makeup had been subtle. Discreet. A touch of bronze on my eyelids. A hint of blush along my cheekbones. Mascara that made my lashes look like they went on for miles. And a deep berry lip stain that Vixen insisted was ‘non-negotiable’. By the time I was ready, I had my confidence back.
Now she stood beside me at the gate, holding an enormous box of cookies like it weighed nothing at all.
“Are you sure you’re okay carrying all that?” I glanced at her, watching the way she balanced the box against one hip with impossible ease. “Isn’t it too heavy?”
Vixen shot me an amused but kind look, her painted lips twisting into a fond smile. “I assure you, darling, I’m fine. You did all the hard part when you made thisdeliciousness for the puppies. Let me help out at least now.”
She’d already helped plenty. More than I could ever say. I made a mental note to pay her back in some way. Once I figured out how. For the moment, I had to keep us both safe from Nana. And from the gala.
Today, the front lawn of the cottage had been transformed into an elegant chaos of rescue dogs and their admirers. White tents dotted the manicured grass, each one hosting a different activity. A photo station where guests could pose with adoptable puppies. A catering table that stretched for what looked like a mile.
And dogs. Dogs everywhere.
A pit bull mix with one eye sat regally on a velvet cushion, accepting treats from a line of admirers like a queen holding court. Two elderly dachshunds in matching sweater vests waddled by in perfect synchronization.
A three-legged beagle limped past me, his tail wagging so hard his entire back end wiggled. His fourth leg ended in a stump wrapped in a cheerful purple bandage. I crouched down next to him and smiled. “Oh, look at you. Aren’t you the bravest boy?”
The beagle yipped and approached me, then immediately licked my hand with enthusiastic approval. I pulled a small dog treat from my clutch and offered itto him. He snatched it out of my palm and settled at my feet as if we were old friends.
“You have such a good heart,” Vixen commented, watching me with an expression I couldn’t quite read. “Whoever actually wins it will be a lucky man.”
Brok clearly didn’t feel that way, but I refused to think about that today. “I certainly hope—”
“Hazel!” Nana’s voice cut me off before I could finish my sentence. “There you are. I was beginning to think you wouldn’t make it.”
I turned to find Nana bearing down on us. Dressed in a cream-colored suit and with her silver hair styled into an elegant twist, she looked like she’d stepped out of a 1950s photograph. “That’s an interesting choice of dress.”
The censure in her words was not enough to shame me in public, but it was certainly loud and clear to me. My confidence, so carefully constructed this morning, began to wobble. But I wasn’t alone.
“That’s what I said!” Vixen stepped in smoothly. “It’s so interesting, and it suits her so well. None of that pastel, weak nonsense. I said, Hazel, my darling, you deserve to stand out. To show these men what they’re missing out on.”
I wanted to hug her. I also wanted to hide her from Nana’s unavoidable rebuttal.
“Not that any random guy is ever good enough for Hazel.” Vixen gave Nana a conspiratorial smile. “But that doesn’t stop us from showing off a bit.”
