Working My Way Back to You

by Doreen Alsen

  “Let me know if you need help with the zipper,” Jenna called.

  “Will do.”

  After closing the door to the break room and hanging the dress on a hook on the wall, Beth took off her khaki skirt and pink button down blouse. When she looked in the mirror she didn’t see Kate Middleton. She saw plain Beth Pritchard, clad only in a plain Playtex white cotton bra and bikini panties. Her choice of underwear did not deserve this gown.

  It deserved the underwear she’d conjured up when Jeff called her and she’d had her first, and likely only, phone sex. Lingerie she’d only seen in her fantasies. Fantasies of Jeff taking that teddy and thong off and kissing her in all kinds of places she hadn’t known about back in the day.

  Maybe it had been better if she’d never had an orgasm brought on by someone else and not her battery operated boyfriend, because that way she wouldn’t crave one now at just the thought of him.

  She’d better buy a whole bunch of Evereadys. No, she would not think of that. She could not think of that. Hating that she still loved him, that she still longed for him, Beth renewed her vow to get over him for once and for all. He was Danny’s father. No more, no less.

  No matter what, he would never be more than that. She couldn’t afford that kind of pain, the kind that kept you awake at night trying not to bawl your eyes out under your covers so your son doesn’t hear you and get scared.

  She loved Jeff, dear God how she loved Jeff. She’d never love anyone else. But it could never work, not if she couldn’t trust him to hold her past against her. Her life had run along without stress and drama before she’d seen him again. It could be that way again.

  She prayed to every deity in the cosmos, just to cover all her bases, to make her life smooth again.

  She pulled the dress off its hanger and held it up in front of her. Another kind of longing came, so innocent and, well, childish.

  She wanted to enter the ballroom, or a church aisle, a princess-bride in a gorgeous dress, dripping with jewelry and a diamond crown on her head, and have every man fall at her feet.

  Just like every princess-bride in the world. Who was she kidding? She was no princess and certainly not a bride. Though she had desperately wanted to be one ten years ago.

  Taking a big breath, Beth soldiered on. It was a dress, right? Not a lifetime commitment. Then she saw herself in the mirror. The woman looking at her bore no resemblance to the woman she usually saw. She might have worn a dress like this to play the piano in concert, right in front of the orchestra.

  Her hand rose to cover her mouth. Her hands, her fingers didn’t work. Her fingers! She should have been a concert pianist. Her fingers always worked.

  Not today.

  The dress was not skimpy and revealing. Rather it was modest, a classic sheath with not a bit of sexy about it except for the sparkle quotient. And what it hid while it suggested.

  Her perfect dress.

  Too bad she’d never have an occasion to wear a dress like this, because she loved the way she felt in it. She looked awesome. Drop dead gorgeous awesome. It was like Jenna had made it just for her.

  Oh, no fair. How could Jenna do this to her? Jenna knew she hadn’t ever worn anything special, had never been to an occasion where she would worn something like this, even if she could have gotten her hands on it. She closed her eyes and gave herself a moment, imagining wearing this fairy tale dress, living in a fairy tale story in which Jeff held her in his arms while they danced.

  Oh, how she craved it.

  “How are you doing in there?”

  Beth’s eyes flew open. She opened the door. “I need help with the zipper,” Beth said.

  “Hold on.” Jenna bustled in and took a gander at Beth in the mirror. She put a hand over her mouth. “Oh my. I knew it would be perfect.” She pulled up the zipper.

  “What do you mean you knew it would be perfect?”

  “What if I asked you to be prepared for surprises tonight and just go with the flow?”

  “I can’t go with the flow. Going with the flow doesn’t exist in my life. I’ve got a kid and I have to keep to the schedule. I have a kid and I just can’t leave him alone while I go skipping out willy nilly.”

  “Promise not to yell at me.”

  “No.”

  “You are so mean.” Jenna looked full of regret. “What if I told you that I made arrangements for Danny to have a sleepover with Ben tonight at Anita’s?”

  Go to holy hell and back again! “You can’t do that? How dare you make arrangements for my child without consulting me?” Beth’s pulse raced as she tried to process what Jenna was telling her.

  “Listen to me.” Jenna grabbed Beth firmly by the shoulders. “You know I am your biggest cheerleader.” Jenna shook her hands.

  Consider me your fairy Godmother. The first wish I grant you is that you’re going to Hair’s The Thing and you’re going to get the whole enchilada, hair, nails, makeup.”

  “What?” Had she stepped into an alternate universe populated by the likes of The Refractor and Mega Mole? “Jenna this is“

  “Right and overdue.” Jenna pulled Beth in for a hug then let her go. “Way overdue. Just let this happen, girlfriend. If at any point you need to run away, you’ve got my cell number. I’ll come and get you right away.”

  “This is insane! What are you doing?” Beth couldn’t get her bearings. This was the opposite of everything she’d struggled so hard to acquire and achieve.

  Jenna gave her gentle shake. “Beth, nothing’s going to happen that you don’t want to happen. You’ve got to trust me.” Jenna gave her a quick hug and spun her around to look in the mirror. “Who do you see?”

  “I see me playing in Kate Middleton’s clothes.”

  “I made this dress just for you so it doesn’t belong to anyone else but you.”

  “Why?”

  “It’s part of the surprise. It’s all arranged. Like I said, you’re going to go to Hair’s the Thing and get the whole enchilada, hair, nails, makeup.” Jenna poked her in the shoulder. And don’t you dare take off the makeup. After that, you’re going home and Bran will be there.”

  “What?” This got worse and worse with every word Jenna said. Her ears started buzzing. “Why?”

  “Let’s just say that you’re going to the prom.”

  “Are you two out of your minds? I can’t go to the prom. What prom?”

  Jenna smiled. “You keep asking me that. I assure you my mind works just fine. Bran’s going to be there to make the experience complete.” She smirked.

  Beth couldn’t see straight what with all the swooping around her brain was doing. “Bran? What experience?” She squeaked louder than Ernie’s rubber ducky as she reached for someplace to sit before she fell down.

  Jenna pushed her into a chair. With a vice grip worthy of a WWE champion on her neck, she pushed Beth’s head between her knees. “Don’t you dare get sick on my masterpiece. I’ll never forgive you.”

  “I’m okay, unless I die from you choking me to death.”

  Jenna relaxed her hold and rubbed Beth’s back. “It’ll be okay, sweetie. When push comes to shove tonight,” Jenna snorted in a way that made Beth think she was laughing, “all the choices will be yours. Nothing will happen if you put the kibosh on it. Now stand up and let me see this brilliant piece of work I sewed.”

  Beth’s body went into mannequin mode, but her mind was racing a mile a minute.

  Jenna arranged the dress, pulled the pony tail holder out of Beth’s hair and fluffed said hair up and around Beth’s face and settled the longer curled ends around her shoulders.

  Finally happy with her handiwork, she took a step back. She smiled so beatifically she could have been the Lady of Fatima handing out ‘You’re saved, go sit on the right hand’ cards to all and sundry like they were Pez candies. Clapping her hands together she said, “This turned out better than I ever could have predicted. Look at yourself, Beth. Really. Take a good look at yourself.”

  Beth did, not expec
ting to see anything different from what she always saw. Plain, simple, perpetually single mother Beth.

  “Go ahead, look,” Jenna said. “Take a good look and see what everyone else sees.”

  So Beth did. Her eyes flicked to the dress first, which was pretty damn awesome and fit like a glove, outlining curves while preserving modesty. She slid her eyes up to check out her reflection and gasped. Everything looked brighter, more vital, more alive. “How?”

  “And this is without makeup. Once we get you the whole shebang you’ll be deadly.” She rubbed her hands together like Danny’s favorite villain Time Bomb did. “Let’s get you back into your clothes and over to Hair’s The Thing.”

  “I still don’t get it.”

  “Okay. Jeff is desperate to get you back. He says he knows he screwed up and he really loves you and won’t be an insensitive lout ever again.”

  “Jeff would never say insensitive lout.”

  “The thing is, sweetie, I believe him. He screwed up bad, he knows it and he just wants to make it up to you, to show you how sorry he is and how much he loves you. The prom was my idea, but was more than happy to go and run with it.”

  “I don’t have to go if I don’t want to?”

  “Of course not.” Jenna smiled. “But my money’s on him. Give him a chance.” She put her hands on Beth’s upper arms and squeezed. “Give yourself a chance.”

  Beth sighed and rolled all this over in her mind. Did she really want to give Jeff another chance? Could she believe in him? Jenna had already gone to a lot of trouble and she guessed she was going to find out. It was only polite. “Okay. Let’s go get my hair and makeup done.

  ****

  “So, what do you think?” Marge, the owner of Hair’s The Thing, spun Beth’s chair around so Beth could see what she’d done.

  Her jaw dropped. “Oh, my.”

  The woman staring back at her had long, soft curls the color of mink. Smudges of gilded eye shadow turned her blue eyes into a sultry shade of violet. Her eyelashes were outrageously long and thick. Lipstick the color of a dusky rose slicked her lips. “I don’t know what to say.”

  “You are gorgeous, girl! You’ve been hiding one crazy-hot MILF in there.”

  “MILF?” Beth let out a strangled squeak. Even she knew what that stood for.

  “She’s right,” Jenna said with a wide smile. “You ready to blow this Popsicle stand and go home to put on the finishing touches?”

  Beth could only nod. She truly had no words.

  Chapter Forty-Three

  “Would you please stop pacing? You’re making me nervous,” Jenna’s fiancé Bran grumbled

  “Why are you here again?” Beth stopped in her tracks to turn and face him.

  “I’m the overprotective father. I’m here to threaten him with death if he hurts you.” He grimaced. “It might not be hypothetical. I might rip his guts out through his mouth if he manages to do more damage.”

  “Dear Lord.” Beth turned away from the couch where Jenna and Bran lounged together. “I’ve got to practice walking in these shoes so I don’t fall flat on my face.”

  Jenna grinned. “They are killer.”

  “And I’m the one they’re going to kill,” Beth muttered.

  A marvel of modern engineering, the four-inch platform stiletto sandals glittered with rhinestone-encrusted straps.

  “You’re doing fine.” Jenna laughed as she pulled her legs up on the sofa.

  “I don’t know about that.” She pressed her hands against her stomach, where a battalion of butterflies fluttered around. Not butterflies. Worse than butterflies. Bumblebees. “What if I can’t do this? What if I can’t forgive him?”

  The doorbell rang and Beth yelped. Bran jumped up. “I’ll get it.” He opened the door and there stood Jeff. “Come on in, young man,” Bran said.

  “Thank you, Mr. Cudahy.” He stepped over the threshold. “Hi, Beth.”

  Oh they were playing their parts like Broadway stars. But all she could see was her date.

  “Jeff,” she barely breathed.

  Dear lord. He wore a black formal tuxedo over a snowy white dress shirt and a black silk bow tie. He carried a clear plastic box with flowers in it.

  He strode to her. He swallowed and looked really uncertain. “You look exquisite.”

  “Thank you.” She rubbed her damp palms on her dress.

  Jenna groaned. “Don’t rub“

  “Shhhh,” Bran told her.

  “I’ve got something for you.” After opening the box he pulled out a breathtaking wrist corsage made of an elegant white gardenia on a bed of shiny dark green leaves. “Give me your wrist.”

  Beth held her breath as he slipped the flower on her arm. “There. Do you like it?”

  She brought the fragrant flower to her nose and inhaled. It smelled exotic and seductive. “It’s lovely.”

  Jenna came up to them and handed Beth a barely open white rose boutonniere. “You need this.”

  Beth stopped herself from biting her lower lip because she didn’t want to get lipstick on her teeth. She managed to get the boutonniere on him without sticking him with the pin, but it was a near miss.

  “Are you ready to go?” Jeff offered his arm.

  “Just a second.” Bran stopped Jeff from leading her out. “Hurt her and I’ll hunt you down, find you and gut you with a dull butter knife and use your pitiful entrails to make a sausage no one will ever eat. Got that?” Beth was startled to see a real threat on Bran’s face.

  “Just one more sec!” Jenna pulled out a camera. “Let’s get some pictures.”

  So they posed in typical pre-prom poses while she clicked away. “Now you can go.” She put down the camera and handed Beth a small, beaded evening bag. “Have fun!”

  “Are we really going to the prom or is that code for something?”“

  “Sunshine? I hope you have your dancing shoes on.” Jeff escorted her out of her house. “We are most definitely going to the prom.”

  ****

  Jeff had always thought Beth was pretty in the girl-next-door kind of way. It was one of the things that attracted him to her.

  The woman he had on his arm was no girl-next-door. This woman defined glamour and style and drop dead sexiness. His fingers itched to touch her, to kiss her and claim her. Amazingly aroused, he felt his penis harden. But then he always had that reaction to her, everyday Beth and glammed-up Beth.

  “Oh my God, it that a limo?”

  “Of course it’s a limo. You’re getting the whole prom experience.” He opened the door and offered his hand. “Let me help you in.”

  “I can’t believe this,” she said, her amazement plain to see.

  He slid in next to her, his skin tingling at being so close to her. “I have never, in my whole life, seen a more beautiful woman. You are stunning.”

  “It’s the dress.” She ran her hands over the skirt.

  “It’s not the dress.” He picked up her hand and kissed her knuckles. “It’s all you.” He held on to her hand.

  “Are we really going to a prom?”

  “Not exactly.” He cleared his throat. “We’re really going to Lobster Cove High School’s Fall Formal. I didn’t want to wait until spring for the prom. I hope that’s okay with you.”

  She sighed. “You and Jenna went to all kinds of trouble to make this happen.”

  “I do have to caution you that the dance is in the high school gym. Only the prom gets a special location. The other school dances get the gym.” He snapped his fingers. “Maybe you’ll chaperone the prom with me.”

  She ran a fingertip over the gardenia he’d given her. “I wouldn’t know the difference.”

  “I’ve got to say this now, Beth. I am sorry from the bottom of my soul about what I said to you the day Cookie caused all that trouble. If I had been seeing clearly, I would have seen you turning over every rock and stone to find her.” Searching her eyes, hoping for some sign of what he wanted from her, he went on. “You’re an amazing mother. Danny is
the proof of that. Teaching Cookie how to fix her own glass of chocolate milk is the proof of that. I was totally out of line and though I was panicking, I shouldn’t have come down on you. I promise you I will never, ever treat you like that again.”

  Beth sat so still, so silent, he thought he might have lost this chance with her.

  “Your mother is a wise woman,” she finally said. “I didn’t grow up in a house where there was any forgiveness. I kept a huge secret and told a huge lie to you about Danny. Your son. I think that in the end forgiveness is all that matters. You forgave me, so I can forgive you.”

  Closing his eyes, the sweet rush of relief ran through him. “Oh, sunshine. You don’t know how happy I am to hear that.” He grinned and rubbed his thumb over the top of the hand he held. Such a small hand, cold and trembling in his palm. Her scent wrapped around him, delicate, floral and fresh.

  Pure, sweet Beth. Nothing, no one else ever smelled as good.

  “I went to what should have been our prom alone, since no other girl was you. I danced a couple of times, but I pretended those girls were you. That I was dancing with you.” He licked his lips and tightened his grip on her hand. Damn, those deep blue eyes of hers always got to him. “I didn’t slow dance with anyone.”

  Those violet eyes widened. “Oh, Jeff.” Her rose painted mouth quivered ever so slightly. “I knew when the prom was. I was so pregnant with Danny and spent the night dreaming that I was in Addington, slow dancing with you.”

  “Sunshine.” His chest constricted, thinking of her alone and pregnant while he went to the prom. Thankfully he hadn’t taken a date. He just couldn’t see himself with another girl.

  “Tonight is about you, Bethy. As far as I’m concerned, we’re back at Addington High, hip-deep in first love, in each other’s arms and swaying on the dance floor.”

  Her eyes shimmered, another assault on his heart.

  She had it already. She’d always had his heart right in the palm of her hand, a cliché he knew, but true.

  The limo slowed, so they must be near their destination. “You ready for this?”

  “I don’t know. Right now, I’m feeling so many things I can’t tell them apart.”