Page 3 of Don’t Open Your Eyes

He looks so handsome tonight, Annabelle thought. He seemed to get better looking each year. When they first met, she thought he was a bit geeky. Back then he wore thick black frames, and his hair was too short for her taste. But now, with a touch of gray at his temples, contacts, and a more fashionable haircut, he reminded her a bit of Jude Law. Annabelle touched her glass to his and drank. “I love it here,” she said, looking around. “All the stress of the day melts away as soon as I walk in the door.”

He smiled at her. “You look gorgeous. I love that dress on you. How do you manage to get sexier every year?”

Annabelle had on her silver Irina halter dress—a little shorter than she liked, but if there was anywhere to wear it, it was New York. And she wanted to make tonight a special night. She’d even had her hair blown out so that it was extra shiny and straight for the evening. Annabelle wasn’t into labels, but her mother-in-law had given her a gift card to a boutique where the least expensive item was nine hundred dollars. So she’d splurged and bought it for a New Year’s party last year. “Thank you. Maybe later we can try to make up for what we missed in the shower this morning.”

“That’s a deal,” James said. “We should come here more often. We don’t get into the city enough anymore.”

“Then it wouldn’t be as special.” The first time they’d come to Per Se was after they’d had Scarlett. Annabelle had been sleep-deprived and exhausted, and James had surprised her with a weekend away. Her in-laws had come to stay with the baby, and he had booked them a suite at the Waldorf. The first night they’d ordered room service; she fell asleep soon after and slept for fourteen hours. When she woke up around noon, he’d booked her a facial and a massage and had made dinner plans at Per Se. His thoughtfulness was one of his most endearing qualities.

James reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box, wrapped in forest-green paper with a gold ribbon. “For you.”

“I thought we were going to wait until we got home to exchange our presents.”

“I couldn’t wait. Go on. Open it.”

Annabelle tore the paper and pulled out a small velvet box. When she flipped the top to reveal what was inside, she gasped. “Oh my gosh, James. This means so much.” Tears sprang to her eyes. “How did you do this?”

“I got the name of a jewelry restorer and had it fixed.”

She gently lifted the diamond and sapphire ring and held it in the palm of her hand. It had belonged to her mother, and to her grandmother before her. But it had been damaged when her mother had fallen on a sidewalk years ago, when she was in the end stage of Alzheimer’s. The gold had been badly scratched, and some of the stones had fallen out. Her mother’s aides had been so concerned with getting her to the hospital that no one thought to look for the stones, and they were never recovered. But now it looked like nothing had ever happened to it. She slipped the ring on her finger and held her hand out, admiring it. It felt like she had a part of her mother back.

“How is it that you always know the perfect thing to do?”

“I’m glad it makes you happy.”

She reached out and took his hand. “You make me happy. Thank you so much for this.” She blew out a breath. “I can’t believe it’s been nine years since Mom’s been gone. But at least when I think of her now, it’s when she was well. It’s almost like those awful years never happened.”

“I wish I had known her before she got sick. But I’m glad I was able to see glimpses of the real her. And she loved you, Annabelle. That much was obvious, even at the end.”

Annabelle smiled. “She loved you too. From the moment she met you, she thought we were a couple, back when we were just friends. It’s like she knew right away that we were meant to be together.” She took a sip of her wine, a feeling of contentment washing over her. “This is so nice. As much as I love our family time, it’s great to have time with just us, especially with your crazy work schedule.”

“Couldn’t agree more. Speaking of work. I forgot to tell you. Good news. I won best doc again this year. It’ll be in next month’s Connecticut Magazine.”

Annabelle gasped.

James gave her an amused look. “Well, you don’t have to look so shocked.”

She forced a laugh. “I’m just happy for you. Congrats! Why didn’t you mention that you were in the running?

“Didn’t want to jinx it.”

She raised the glass to her lips with a shaking hand and took a long sip, her dream coming back to her full force.

Scarlett

Zoe Barnes was such a bitch! Scarlett could still feel the steam coming out of her ears when she got home from school. She’d barely said a word on the drive home, not that Dylan noticed. Scarlett’s mom had hired her a year ago to pick up Scarlett and Olivia from school when they had after-school activities, and to stay at the house until their parents were home from work. Even though Scarlett didn’t need a babysitter anymore, Dylan was pretty cool and didn’t bug her too much. Besides, Olivia still needed to be taken care of, and Scarlett didn’t have time for that. Now Dylan was too busy talking to Olivia about her stupid science project to notice that Scarlett was upset. It would be nice if she could at least ask Scarlett if everything was all right.

She went straight to her room and slammed the door, kicking off her shoes and blaring music from her phone as she opened Instagram. As she scrolled through, her stomach dropped at the story Zoe had just posted. A selfie of her and Ethan at the mall, their faces smushed together. Why had she ever told Zoe about her crush on Ethan? I mean, she’d only liked him forever. It was like a scene straight out of Mean Girls. Zoe had promised to find out if Ethan liked Scarlett, only to snag him for herself. And then when Scarlett got upset, Zoe turned everyone in their friend group against her. But what made it so much worse was that Zoe and she had been friends since first grade. They’d gone on each other’s family vacations, spent every summer at the same camp, and had sleepovers almost every weekend. Zoe had been the one Scarlett called when she got her first period, the one who held Scarlett’s hand in the ER when she had sprained her ankle ice-skating and had to wait for x-rays at the hospital. Zoe was always Scarlett’s go-to person. But when they started high school this year, everything changed. Zoe went out for cheerleading, turned into this ultra fashionista, started giving more weight to clothes than the people wearing them, and began treating Scarlett differently. She was critical of Scarlett’s appearance and complained that she was a Goody Two-shoes because she refused to vape like all the cool girls. Scarlett wasn’t interested in spending hours on makeup and clothes, was too much of an athlete to risk her lungs for an e-cigarette, but Zoe was all about being cool. Still, Scarlett had never expected her betrayal, especially not in such a hurtful fashion. Zoe was a different person now.

Scarlett took a deep breath and exhaled, blinking back tears. She missed her friend—the old Zoe. The one who had cared about her for who she really was. But maybe that Zoe was gone for good.

She sighed. She couldn’t keep holding on to what used to be. She would find new friends—ones who wouldn’t stab her in the back. She wasn’t going to let Zoe’s betrayal ruin her school year.

Her door burst open, and Olivia walked in. “Hey, Dylan and I are making chocolate chip cookies. Wanna help?”

“Knock much?” Scarlett snapped. “No. I don’t want to consume a thousand calories in sugar.”

“Okay, geez. Don’t bite my head off.”