Arcadia's Gift(56)

“Whoa,” he whispered. Sparks of happiness jolted off of him, making me blush. I guess he likes the dress.
“Thanks. You look nice too.”
“Here,” he said, getting the corsage out of the carton and tying it around my wrist. It was a white orchid threaded with streaks of purple mounted on a lavender ribbon. Once the bow was secured, Bryan gathered me in his arms for a long, slow kiss. The warmth of his affection ran through my limbs.
“If you two are going to make out all night, I’m staying home,” Aaron warned.
I flashed him a dirty look.
“We should go anyway,” Bryan replied. “Monica’s back at my house. She wasn’t quite ready, so I offered to swing back to pick her up on our way to dinner. Besides, my mom wants to meet you.”
My heart did a somersault in my chest. Meet his mother? Good thing that would be before dinner, so I wouldn’t accidentally hurl on her shoes.
Bryan helped me into my jacket, and the three of us walked out to the car.
“Nice ride,” Aaron commented with genuine appreciation while sliding into the back of the dark, shiny SUV.
“It’s my mother’s,” Bryan explained, backing out of the drive. “She let me borrow it for the night. I thought it’d be more comfortable. I think it looks like something a Secret Service agent would use to tail the President.”
I sank into the leather passenger seat and listened to the boys talk about their favorite cars. I’d never been to Bryan’s house before, but I had a pretty good idea from the neighborhood that Bryan’s parents had some major cash. His street was lined with huge homes with sprawling, manicured lawns. My nervousness returned as he pulled into a circular driveway in front of a modern, two-story house made of pale brick. The sun had just disappeared over the horizon, but every light in the house was on. These people obviously didn’t have to worry about paying their electric bills.
“Wow, you live here?”
“Yeah,” Bryan replied with a sigh. He felt embarrassed, but I wasn’t sure if that was due to his ostentatious house or his mother standing in the doorway waving at us.
I climbed out of the SUV and straightened my skirt before following Bryan up the walk.
“Mom, this is Cady and her brother Aaron.”
“It’s nice to meet you both,” his mother said with a warm smile. “I’ve heard so much about you.”
“It’s nice to meet you too, Mrs. Sullivan,” I replied, shaking her cool hand. She was taller than me, but not by much, and her eyes were exactly the same dark pools as Bryan’s. Sensing a faint stirring of nerves coming from her went a long way toward easing mine. She wanted to make a good impression on me, too.
“Call me Joan, please.” She stepped aside and gestured for us to enter. “Come on in. I told Monica you’re here. She’ll be right down.”
The foyer was as big as my whole bedroom and twice as tall. An open staircase of dark, polished wood stretched up to the second story. It looked like the kind of staircase a Disney princess would float down on in a frothy gown to meet her Prince Charming for the ball. Knowing that was just the entrance that Monica would make soon didn’t cheer me at all.
Bryan wrapped his arm loosely around my waist while Joan made polite conversation with my brother about his college plans. As far as I knew he didn’t have any, so I was surprised when he mentioned applying to a graphic design program in Minneapolis.
“I’ve never seen you in a dress before. You look beautiful,” Bryan whispered into my ear, making my neck tingle. “Maybe we could drop Aaron and Monica off at the dance and find some place to be alone.”
“Shhh,” I replied, my cheeks burning. Not that it didn’t sound like a good idea, but the last thing I needed was for his mother to overhear him talking to me that way.
“And how about you, Cady?” Joan asked. “Have you given any thought to college yet?”
I opened my mouth to respond, but the words caught in my throat at the sight of the most gorgeous girl I’d ever seen walking down that fabulous staircase. She was built tall and willowy with legs that went on forever. She wore her blond hair in a short pixie cut, the kind only fashion models could pull off. Her dress was a strapless jade green with a short skirt that might have looked trashy on anyone else, but on her was glamorous.
“Hi,” she called out. “Sorry to keep you waiting.” She strolled past me to Aaron. “So you must be my date.”
Aaron stared at her, corsage in hand and lips parted. You didn’t need to be an empath to feel the heat coming off of him. My foot itched to kick him in the shin.