Page 8 of Moonlit Colorado

“Leave that to me. I have some of the dresses from our sorority days.”

“You still have those?” I’d cleaned out my closet years ago with a more practical eye.

“Didn’t know when I might need to attend a movie premiere.”

“There are no movie premieres in Silver Ridge.”

“There were no black-tie masquerade balls either. Until now.” She reached across the counter and pulled me into a hug. “This is going to be epic. I promise, tomorrow night will be unforgettable.”

I didn’t know if I liked the sounds of that. So far in my life, the most indelible moments tended to coincide with loss and heartbreak.

THREE

Grace

“Are you ready yet?”Piper knocked at my bedroom door. “Hurry it up in there. Or at least let me in.”

“Just a sec.” I ran my fingers through my hair one last time, then smoothed my hands down the sides of my dress, enjoying the silky glide of the fabric under my fingers.

Here goes nothing.

I opened my bedroom door and stepped out. “What do you think?”

Piper’s red lips broke into a huge grin. “It’s a good thing we have a firefighter on the premises, because you aresmoking.”

“Shush.” I put my finger over my lips. Niko and Darius were out, but Connor was playing video games in his room. Thank goodness Callum had another shift at Hearthstone Brewing tonight, like he had yesterday. “I don’t want to make this into a whole thing,” I said.

And if any of the guys saw me in this dress, itwouldbe a thing.

Piper looked sleek and sophisticated in the purple gown she was wearing. If anything, it was on the conservative side. She had givenmethe racy red number with mesh cut-outs along the sides, placed in exactly the right spots so that I couldn’t wear underwear.

In our town, a nice sweater and leather boots were considered formal wear. Maybe with a hat or a shawl thrown in. Silver Ridge was far from high fashion, and I liked it that way.

“You look amazing, and you know it.”

Piper fussed over me, arranged my hair and smoothed out the straps of the dress. She’d twisted her blond hair into an elaborate updo. With her in low heels and me in stilettos, we were nearly the same height. I hardly ever wore makeup, but I’d used black eyeliner and mascara along with a rosy color on my cheeks and lips.

She pulled off my glasses. “Except these will not do.”

“What? How am I supposed to see?”

“Wear your contacts. You look beautiful in your glasses, but it’ll be hard to wear a mask to the masquerade ball if those frames are blocking your face.”

I glared. She laughed.

“You’re so much like Ashford when you scowl like that. Not nearly as scary though.”

“Oh, quiet.” I wasn’t a fan of my contacts. They dried out my eyes. But she did have a point about the mask.

“Don’t mess up the mascara,” she called out as I traipsed to the bathroom. “It’s perfection!”

“You are so demanding.”

“Love you too, babe.”

A few minutes later, my contacts were in. Piper handed me a slim black mask with long pieces of ribbon to tie it into place. Piper had a matching one, though hers was purple.

A wave of uncertainty hit me. “Are you sure we have to do this?” I asked.

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