tmp0

  “So did you survive last night?” I decided to lighten the mood a bit. “I mean, was the movie totally horrible?”

  “Are you kidding? With Chase paying for everything? No way! He’s an awesome date, seriously. I’m surprised you’ve never thought to go out with him.”

  “Me?” Why is everyone suddenly wondering if Chase and I like each other? “Not likely. I don’t think I could stand being on a date with him.”

  She laughed and I was irritated to hear Hannah agree with me.

  Why would that bug me?

  “So what time do you want me to come over?”

  “Uh…” I flipped my hair out of my face and shrugged. “Whenever, really. I’m totally going crazy at the moment, so if you’re free head over now.”

  “I can’t. I’m finishing laundry. My mom would kill me if I left this load in the washing machine. But I’ll be over a-sap.”

  “Okay. See ya then.”

  The phone went dead in my ear and I sighed for like the hundredth time that day. Falling back on my pillows, I wondered again what was wrong with me. I just didn’t get it. Why was I more worried about Ethan being a dork, than me losing my heart over him? Wasn’t he supposed to be my perfect match? Why didn’t I see guys like everyone else did? Was I never, ever going to fall in love? The image of me as an old maid with dozens of cats flit across my mind again, and I groaned and buried myself in pillows so I could stamp it out.

  Much later when Hannah made it over and she was going on and on with the wonderfulness of Chase’s movie date, it totally clicked. Oh. My. Gosh. Why didn’t I think of it before? It’s perfect! Ethan Franklin and Hannah Smith! Eeeh. Okay, I’m gonna die happy now! It explains everything. Why I haven’t been attracted to him, his awkwardness about kissing—he’s totally shy. Like Hannah is. Oh, and Hannah fallin for older guys—he’s older too. See? It’s perfect. They were so meant to be together. Ahhh!

  Sometimes there were moments in your life when everything seemed to click into place. You know, when all of the good Karma sprinkles flowed your way and the planets, moon, and the stars all aligned in perfect harmony to create one of those memorable moments of extreme clarity? I am so having one of those moments! *Sigh* I’m a genius. Pure and simple. A matchmaking genius! I knew it. I knew all along I was destined to be something great. I mean, even my horoscope this month talked of my ability to move mountains and to bend will to my way. Well, this is will bending my way. I sighed again, and just when I was ready to throw myself back onto my bed in the act of supreme happiness—

  “You haven’t been listening to a word I’ve said, have you?” Hannah laughingly accused.

  “What?” I caught myself from falling just in time. “Of course, I have. Chase was wonderfully sweet at the movie last night. Is there something else I’ve missed?”

  “Ugh!” Hannah shook her head at me and buried her face into one of my pillows. “I knew it,” came her muffled reply. “I knew you weren’t listening to me for one minute!” She snapped her head back up and grinned slyly at me. “So what is it that has put that ridiculous smile on your face anyway?”

  Whatever. “I do not have ridiculous smiles.” I smiled even more ridiculously at her.

  She leaned forward. “Egad, Batman! You’ve thought of something, haven’t you?” She snorted out a giggle.

  I nodded my head and giggled back.

  “Out with it!” Her eyes danced playfully and then her jaw dropped. “I know what it is!” Hannah gasped.

  “You do?” Better and better.

  “You think it’s Chase who bought that camera for Cassidy, don’t you?”

  What? I blinked. “No!”

  “Come on. Are you kidding me?” She sat back up. “Of course, it’s Chase. Who else would it be?”

  I felt like I had been slapped across the face. As if Chase would EVER look at Cassidy. Taylor noticing her was bad enough, but Chase? No. Way. I had to get her mind off of that bizarre notion immediately. I said the only thing I knew that would distract her enough. “Puh-lease, sometimes you scare me with the things you think about.” I chuckled to sound more convincing. “Anyway, that wasn’t what made me smile. What made me smile was the thought of linking your name with Ethan’s.”

  Now it was Hannah who looked like she’d been slapped. “What in the world put that thought into your head? Have you totally lost your mind? Me and Ethan? Ethan and me? Yeah, right! If he likes anyone, it’s you.”

  “Really?” I smiled back, glad to see she was very distracted. “I don’t think so. I think he likes me—yes…” I put my hand up to thwart off her attack. “But I know he doesn’t like, like me. We’re just friends. And more than likely, that is all we’ll ever be. I’m thinking his heart is much more open to new possibilities than you’d think.”

  Hannah shook her head and stood up. “Let me get this straight, you think Ethan Franklin—the San Juan County four wheeling champion—and me would be good together?”

  “Yep!”

  “Holy cow,” Hannah grumbled as she lowered herself back down to my favorite overstuffed chair. This is gonna be a long weekend.”

  I laughed. “Smile Hannah, this is going to be an amazing weekend!”

  Chapter 21

  Hello, I'm a thief, and I'm here to steal your heart.

  Okay, so more like an uneventful weekend. Apart from going to church —which was more fun than I thought it was, now that Hannah and I were friends and we sat together—that was all we did. Went to church. Ate dinner. Played with my puppy. And then Hannah went home. See? Very uneventful.

  By the time school started back up on Monday I had heard Ethan had already headed back to college. So much for matchmaking this time, I guess we’ll have to wait until Christmas.

  Christmas! It’s all anyone could think about. That word was everywhere. There were so many plans being made and so many parties and ideas and well, everyone was getting in the spirit. My house was just as Christmas tizzied as any—except more so, because Mom had started her frenzied planning for her ball. The invites had gone out before Thanksgiving. And now it was just down to the caterers, decorators, musicians and Mom micromanaging the whole thing with an iron fist. Yep. The perfectionist Austenite had come out again.

  School was… well school. About halfway through December I realized I had a massive case of senioritis. Not good. The only good thing about senior year was Hannah. Thank goodness I had her as my BFF. Seriously, she kept me laughing and plowing through the subjects. Not too mention, her wonderful study habits totally kept me from bombing classes. But, there were definitely days when I wished America enforced the British school system. You know, they graduate at sixteen? And then they start college right after that. Like how much better would life be to already be graduated?

  Sometimes I felt so old, surrounded by all these younger, perky, happy, teenagers still excited to be in high school. Ugh. What would I give to be out of this place and in college already?

  “Hey, you!” Hannah chuckled as she tossed a chip in my direction. “What is up with you? You’re daydreaming again.”

  “No. I wish.” At least a daydream would be something productive. Anything’s better than moping.

  “Come on!” She tugged the sleeve of my coat from across the table. “I thought for sure you’d be all about getting a new dress for your mom’s ball. Besides, my dad and mom have been totally cool about it and are letting me get my prom dress early so I can wear it there too. So snap out of it already! We’ve got shopping to do!”

  Snap out of it. “Okay, you’re right. I’m smiling.” I smiled.

  “Good! Now finish your lunch and let’s go. This place is packed as it is, we’ll never be able to find anything if we don’t hurry.”

  I looked around the food court and then back down at my turkey and Swiss sub sandwich. Hannah had already finished hers and was now eating the last of her chips. Yikes! “Gimme a couple of secs, okay?”

  “Fine. But hurry.”

  “Where do you wanna go first?�
� I asked around a mouthful.

  “Duh! Debs. Where else?”

  I nodded and swallowed. Debs, what was I thinking? Of course she’d wanna go there first. Their clothes weren’t high end or anything, but way uber cute. And definitely affordable. It was one of the places Hannah took me to when we did the makeover day. She got a load of stuff from there.

  “Hey, Em! What are you two doing here?”

  Surprised to hear Chase’s voice behind me, I nearly choked on another bite of my sub. Hannah answered for me.

  “We’re shopping for the ball. What are you guys doin?”

  Guys? I quickly turned around and found Georgia grinning happily down from her perch on Chase’s shoulders. I chewed a couple more bites and swallowed asGeorgia chattered,

  “We’re goin’ Chris-miss shoppin’! An’ Chase is gonna let me sit on Santa’s lap an’ ev’rything. It’s gonna be soo cool.”

  “Wow.” I swallowed and stood up so I could see her better. “And what do you want for Christmas?”

  “That’s easy. I want a Kit-tar. I real one with a mike-a-phone!”

  “Uh, Kit-tar?” I looked to Chase for translation.

  “Guitar.” He chuckled. “Who knew? We all figured she’d want a doll or something.”

  Hannah laughed. “Instead Georgia’s gonna be a rock star? That’s awesome!” She chuckled and stood picking up her trash.

  I quickly took another bite of my sandwich and swept up my leftovers to toss in the trash too. “Hey,Georgia, you want the rest of my chips?” I asked with my mouth full as I wiggled the bag in front of me.

  “Yes! Yes! Yes!” She giggled. “Cheesy kind is my favorite!”

  “That’s it.” Chase chuckled as he swooped her off his shoulders in one smooth motion. “If you’re gonna eat cheesy chips, you’re not doing it near my head.”

  Hannah and I both laughed as I passed the bag over to her greedy little hands. “Come on Chase,” I teased, “Where’s your sense of adventure?”

  “Yeah, you never know, orange could be a good color for you,” Hannah threw in.

  Chase nodded his head grinning. “True, true. Why didn’t I think of that before?”

  “Hurry, Chase!” Georgia tugged on his hand. “I’m staw-ving! We have to eat first so we can see Santa ‘member?”

  “Oh, yep. Santa. If you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a demanding date.”

  “If we’re on a date, then I want choc’late!” Greorgia beamed up at him.

  “See what I mean? Bye.” Chase chuckled again as he was dragged off to stand in Chinese food line.

  “Cheesy chips and Chinese food? Hmm... that’s a combo I think I’d rather pass on.” Hannah made a face. “So are ya ready yet?”

  “Yes. Coming.” I walked over and tossed my trash in the bin. “Sheez, you’re as bad as Georgia!”

  “I’ll be nice if you give me chocolate too!” Hannah smirked.

  “Deal,” I muttered.

  So, we were lucky, it only took three hours to make it out of the mall. I have to admit, two and a half of those hours were wasted by me. Ugh! I wasn’t thrilled with my dress, but all in all it wasn’t bad, just not as flattering as I’d hoped. I was almost tempted just to wear one of the ones I already had, but—as always—the sparkle spoke to me. What girl doesn’t love a new sparkly holiday gown? And this one was especially pretty. It was a fabulous flamboyant red and worked perfectly with Hannah’s sensational silver one. Really, when it came down to it, the two looked so cute together, that I couldn’t resist wearing it, just so me and Hannah could make a statement as we entered the ballroom together.

  And statement we did! Two and a half weeks later as we walked under my mom’s lit arch and into the canopied ballroom of the Farmington Civic Center, we both burst into giggles at the reaction we caused. –If the gasps of the crowd were anything to go by, Hannah and Emma had seriously broken some major hearts. Eeeh! Tonight is gonna be awesome!

  Everyone who was anyone was there. And they all looked amazing!

  Mom had one rule, and that was if you weren’t married you had to come single. She wanted everyone to dance like they did back in Jane’s time and to mix and mingle. So even though Chloe and Taylor and Carson and Madison were items, they weren’t tonight. We were all on equal footing.

  “Hey! You two look so good!” squealed Chloe as she skidded up to us in her high heels and form fitting dress.

  “So do you! Check you out!” I exclaimed taking in her complete outfit.

  “You look so posh daw-ling with your hair up like that!” Hannah laughing sprang one loose curl of Chloe’s. “I would give anything to have my hair do this.”

  “Yeah, I’ll bet.”

  “So when did you guys get back fromArizona?” I asked.

  “Taylor and I drove up yesterday. School doesn’t start for me until the middle of January, Taylor’s starts a few days after mine, so we’re here again for the rest of the Holidays.”

  “Cool!” Hannah and I both cheered together and then laughed.

  “Yeah, I’m pretty excited.” Chloe positively glowed. “I just love being around my family during Christmas. My sisters are so much fun!”

  I decided to keep my opinion of her family to myself. Instead, I settled with sharing a glance with Hannah and then I asked, “So any news about Ethan? Is he coming tonight?”

  “Ethan? Yeah.” Chloe chuckled as Hannah rolled her eyes behind her. “He’s been over at my house today helping my dad decorate every square inch of the roof with Christmas lights. He’s bringing Cassidy and Claire over later.”

  “Claire’s coming too?” I tried to keep the surprise out of my voice.

  “Yeah. Didn’t you know? Your mom’s so sweet she even invited Claire this year. She’s wearing one of Cass’s old dresses, but don’t tell her I told you. She’s been so excited all day; it’s all I’ve heard about.”

  I’ll bet.

  “Excuse me ladies, but I’m coming to steal Chloe away,” Taylor’s smooth voice startled us all. “They’re getting ready to play our song.”

  “Hey!” I laughed as he began to tug Chloe’s hand. “Just remember you’re single tonight. I want a dance too.”

  “Yeah, yeah. You can be next,” he half-heartedly agreed, while his eyes remained focused on Chloe.

  Maybe he doesn’t like Cassidy.

  “Man, theAnderson guys are totally hot,” gasped Hannah.

  “Aren’t they?” I grinned up at her flustered countenance. “There’s something to say about that Anderson charm. I know, believe me. It’s been tough living next door to them all these years.”

  “Yeah, so tough.” She nudged me with her elbow. “I bet it was the hardest thing ever having to stare at those blue eyes every day.”

  “Whose blue eyes?”

  Hannah and I both spun around to see a smug Chase grinning boyishly at us.

  The punk. He heard every word we’d said. I was the first to recover. “We were talking about your little brother and sister, if you must know.”

  “Yep. Figures.” He nodded his head and looked down his tux to his flawless designer shoes. “Georgia’s got the looks and Taylor all the charm. Doesn’t leave much for me, does it?” The look he gave as he impishly peeked back up at me, nearly took my breath away. Oh my gosh! Chase Anderson is totally hot! I felt like someone had just punched me in gut—full force. I mean, my jaw dropped and everything. I don’t know what he saw in my face, but whatever it was it made his gorgeous eyes glitter in response. Slowly, Chase raised his chin and walked toward me until he was standing about two feet away.

  Twenty-four inches. I had never felt so close to someone and so far from someone before in my life. What is happening to me? Breathe. I gulped in a huge chunk of air and my lungs welcomed it. Slowly my mouth began to pull itself together to raise into a flirtatious grin. Just when I was about to make the biggest fool of myself, thankfully, Hannah saved me.

  “Well, I don’t know about Emma, but I’m thinking that tuxedo suits you.”


  “Really?” Chase asked, his eyes devouring mine.

  “Yeah, you look good. Really.” Hannah exclaimed.

  Finally Chase wrenched his gaze away and released me. “Thanks.” He smiled vaguely at Hannah.

  I took another huge breath and willed my hands to stop shaking. For crying out loud, why am I acting like such an idiot? It’s Chase for Pete’s sake. What is wrong with me?

  “So why aren’t you dancing?” asked Hannah archly.

  “Um?” Chase glanced briefly at me and then scanned the large crowd on the ballroom floor, before he sheepishly grinned at Hannah again. “Actually, I don’t dance. I’ve never been good at it. Seriously. I didn’t even go to prom. But hey, I can have Taylor ask you. He likes to dance.”

  “Oh.” She looked disappointed and I could tell Chase felt a little guilty.

  “Emma?”

  Carson was at my elbow. “Madison’s dancing with my lil’ brother. Are you dancing with anyone right now?”

  “Me? N-no.” I looked back over at Hannah and saw her smile happily for me. “Are you okay, Hannah?” I really didn’t want to leave her without a dance partner. And then it happened. Like some horrible scene from a nightmare. Elton and his girlfriend Ashley, walked right behind us in the middle of a group of people. They were all laughing and talking about something, none of us paid much attention until Ashley squealed loud enough to be heard by us all,

  “Oh, look! There’s poor Chase again! Look how awkward he looks standing next to that Hannah chick.” She broke away from her group and boldly walked right past me up to him. “I’m single tonight and I know you would much rather dance with someone who can hold their own.” She said the last part with a sneer in Hannah’s direction.

  The loser. Elton, did tell her! I’m gonna kill him!

  “You’re right,” Chase’s voice sounded as cold as ice. “I would like to dance with someone who could hold their own. Especially around—” he choked on a word. I could tell it took every bit of self control to contain his temper. “Hannah, I know you needed a few more minutes to talk to Em, but Carson’s here to dance with her now. So are ya ready?”