Page 38 of Party Favors

Do more charitable work. It had always felt good to help other people; I didn’t know why I had forgotten about that part of myself.

Look fabulous while doing it.

I worried a little about the last one. Despite being annoyed by my mother’s suggestion, I knew that I probably should spend more time on my appearance. It made a difference in my industry, whether or not I wanted to admit it. I’d always gone for comfort over style.

My rack of clothes was against the wall next to the foot of my bed, and I looked at it, remembering how I’d felt when I wore the dress that looked like Kat’s. It had given me faith in myself, confidence. A belief that I could be like Kat.

I wanted that feeling again.

I opened up my laptop and did a search for “how to dress like Queen Katerina.” I found a website run by fans who called themselves “Copy-Kats,” and the content was devoted to Kat’s fashion sense. Not only did they have pictures of her in various outfits, but they also included links to where to buy either the same dress or a close replica.

This would be my first step in my WWKD journey.

Choosing to believe in myself and that I would get the promotion when my event was successful, I maxed out my credit cards and bought a bunch of her outfits. It probably wasn’t a wise financial decision, but fortunately being smart with money wasn’t on my self-improvement list.

I’d have to hope the money followed as I improved myself and my situation.

This was going to work. I’d get my life back on track and manifest the things I wanted. I decided that when I had the chance, I was going to make a vision board for my new future.

A big portion of that was probably going to be dedicated to men with dark hair and light eyes. If I wanted to date someone like Max, I was going to have to actually do the things on my list.

I suspected it wouldn’t be too hard, especially the whole moving-past-my-Adrian-crush thing. All I’d have to do was remember Max offering me his arm and Adrian would be completely banished from my brain.

The thought made me grimace. Maybe I was just trading one obsession for another. I should put a rubber band around my wrist to wardoff my intrusive thoughts—if I was feeling nostalgic about Adrian or wishing that I could date Max, I’d snap it to remind myself to not be ridiculous.

Because Max was a pipe dream—a romantic comedy hero come to life for a single night before disappearing back into the genie’s bottle he’d popped out of.

Since I was already up, I went ahead and got ready for my day and had breakfast. I worked on the party for a few hours until it was time to go over to Adrian’s apartment to let the electrician in.

Just as I was about to leave, I heard a phone ringing.

It wasn’t mine, and Vella was still in bed asleep and made a point of turning her phone off so that it didn’t inadvertently wake her up.

Then I realized that it was Max’s phone.

His coat was still on the couch and I reached into the pocket. I checked the screen, but the call was from an unknown number. It might have been one of Max’s many women, but I felt like I should answer it just in case.

“Hello?”

“Everly? This is Max. It seems you have my phone.”

“I do,” I said breathlessly, sitting down because it was exciting to hear his voice again. “Accidentally. I’m sorry I didn’t return it to you last night.”

“It’s okay,” he said. “I’m sorry I didn’t ask for it back. I would have called you last night but I didn’t want to wake you up.”

“That was very considerate of you. My mom called me so early this morning it felt like I traveled back in time.”

I wanted to smack myself in the forehead. Why had I said that? He didn’t care.

He laughed, and I didn’t know if it was out of politeness or if he thought I was actually funny. “This works out well because we can hang out again. Can we meet up today? Like in an hour or so? We could have lunch.”

Disappointment welled up inside me. I wished that I were free and could have a meal with him. It would fit into my whole putting-myself-out-there-more resolution, but I’d made a commitment. “I have to go over to my boss’s place to let an electrician in.”

---