Page 207 of Ewan

Jet black with a sparkling brooch at the neckline, it flatters my figure and makes my red lipstick pop.

I bought Colley a gift despite his mother texting me and telling me not to bring him anything.

He’d get plenty of gifts, she said, and me being there would be the most precious gift of all.

I wanted to believe her, but I couldn’t focus on her words entirely.

All day today, I have thought about the possibility that Ewan might be there, and we might need to interact.

And it would be awkward because we know each other––Christmas party, anyone?––yet shouldn’t know each other in any other sense.

It would be one of those moments when the most minor blunder would reveal our true story.

So I’m nervous.

Of course I am.

I check the time and look outside.

It’s dark, and the trees are frosted, yet nothing has stopped me from sliding on a pair of black heels and picking up a fancy bag.

I’m a little out of my element here, looking too snazzy, but what the heck.

I don’t know what I’ll be running into.

“Okay…” I murmur to myself, checking that everything is in order before putting on my coat, scooping up my phone, and checking on my cab. “Five more minutes.”

I walk around the house, turn off the lights, and then turn on the lights, undecided, before exiting my place.

“Please, come on time,” I mumble under my breath to myself. “I don’t want to talk to her.”

I barely say that when her voice slices through the air.

“It’s cold tonight, isn’t it?”

Oh, fuck.

I turn my eyes to my neighbor and give her a strangled smile.

“Yes, it is.”

“Going out?”

Not that it’s her business.

“Yes. A social gathering, nothing fancy.”

“Uh-huh.”

Her eyes go down, taking inventory of my appearance, her expression disagreeing with my words.

Luckily, the lights of a cab glow over the road.

I gesture in that direction as if I’m sorry I can’t chat with her a little more before my ride rolls to a stop, and I dash to it.

Her faint words travel to me as I climb in.

It’s something about women never being satisfied these days. Flipping her the bird in my head, I greet the driver and forget about her.

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