Page 44 of Heartstruck at Dawn
“I love the white knee socks. Those are sexy,” Cecile added.
Sophie went back into the dressing room, looking enthusiastic about her costume of choice. Cecile kept browsing through the racks, undecided.
“See anything you like?” I asked her.
“Hmm, I don’t know,” she replied with a bored expression on her face.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, it’s—Paul. He’s been acting weird lately, and I’m getting sick of it.” I knew a thing or two about that feeling. “We had the weirdest conversation right now through texts. But this weekend is not about me. We’re here to have fun, and I’m planning to do just that. How about this?” She took a beautiful vintage twenties dress off the rack. It was black and had a silver fringe and details made of tiny beads and sequins.
“It’s beautiful. You should try it on.”
Sophie and I sat outside the dressing room, waiting for Cecile to come out. “I’m excited about tonight. Tobias issohot.” Sophie whispered.
Uh-oh.
I was almost sure Tobias liked Cecile, which was why I thought he wanted to come to the party. But who knew?
“How do I look?” Cecile twirled. The dress looked beautiful against her porcelain skin and tobacco brown hair.
“It looks great. It would go perfectly with a red lip,” I suggested.
She rented out the dress and a few accessories to go with it—a hairpiece, earrings, and pearl bracelet. They found everything they needed for the party, so we walked around the city for about an hour, then returned to the apartment. We needed to start getting ready.
Tobias called me a few minutes after we arrived at my place.
“Hey, Tob, what’s up?”
“G’day, Murph.”
“Oh, hi, Nathan!”
“You’ve kept me waiting. So, what’s the verdict? Am I good to go for tonight? Joel’s lending me the white Scarface suit to match your costume. Just say the word, and I’ll throw that thing on.”
“Last time I asked, they still didn’t have an answer. Let me check in with them again, okay? I’msosorry for all of this.”
“There’s nothing to apologize about. What floor did you say you’re on?”
“Ninth.”
“On my way.” He ended the call.
Shit. I was so embarrassed it was almost 5:00 p.m., and I still couldn’t give him an answer. I could tell Nathan wanted to come, and I would lie if I said I didn’t want him to. I was curious about him.
I called Caleb and asked him to come upstairs. He arrived before Nathan, just a couple of minutes after we hung up.
I opened the door, and he said, “You wanted to talk to me, Miss Murphy?”
“Yes. Is Nathan cleared yet? I need to give him an answer. It’s five p.m.”
“Yes … and no.”
“What do you mean?”
“He’s clean. Too clean if you ask me.” He lifted a brow and wet his lips. “But … your father said no.”
“What?” I was confused. I didn’t understand why my father would refuse if his background check came out perfect. Wasn’t that the only requirement?
