I aim for a casual tone but achieve something halfway between highly strung and tipping over the edge.
She checks her watch. “He should be here any minute. Oh God, and I’m really not ready.”
“You are. You look beautiful.”
“But I haven’t decided which shoes to wear, and I’ve lost my perfume and I can’t put mascara on until my lashes have dried, and?—”
I’m about to grab her by the shoulders when the doorbell rings.
Everything inside me stops. My breath, my pulse, my sense of reality.
Paige’s eyes snap to mine.
“Oh my God,” she whispers. “It’s starting. My junior prom is starting.”
My heart is suddenly in my throat.
“Okay,” I breathe. “It’s okay, it’s fine. You look stunning. It’s going to be amazing…”
The bell rings again and I stare back at Paige.
“Can you get that, Mom? Please?”
I nod, swallowing, then I walk to the door on legs that don’t feel like mine.
My hand hovers over the handle and I can almost feel him on the other side. His presence is magnetic. The closer I get, the greater the pull.
I take one final sobering breath and turn the handle.
The air sticks in my throat.
How is it possible for someone to get even sexier with age?
His hair is a shade lighter, his skin a touch darker, his chest still firm and rounded beneath his suit jacket. His eyes are still brown with flecks of emerald, and?—
“Erin,” he says, quietly.
My name still sounds like a symphony on the edge of his tongue.
“Augusto.”
For a moment, nothing moves, only an awareness deep inside me that I am well and truly helpless.
Then Paige barrels into him, squealing. “AUGIE!”
He absorbs the impact completely, one arm coming up to steady her as if softening her blow is something he was made to do.
“Hello,principessa.” A corner of his mouth curls like he can’t help it.
She pulls back immediately, horrified. “It’s so nice to see you, but I look insane. My hair isn’t finished, my makeup isn’t done. I haven’t even dressed yet. Why did you come early?!”
He glances at me. “You said four.”
She looks back at her watch. “It’s three fifty-eight.”
“You’re right,” he frowns. “Thatisearly.”
She stares at him. Then, to my utter shock, she laughs. And just like that, some of the tension dissolves.
