Gretchen limped over to me and gave my makeup a final check. “You’re going to be cold,” she said. “Take this.” She reached into the closet and pulled out her long, maroon down coat—the one that looked like a sleeping bag.

“Thanks, Mom, but I’ll just take this instead.” I didn’t have a long coat with me, so I just put my puffy jacket over my shoulders. I didn’t plan to wear it, much.

“That doesn’t go with your dress!” she protested.

“Well, neither does that.” I pointed to her coat.

“You’re impossible. You don’t wear a short jacket with a gown,” she said.

“It’s not a gown. It’s a dress.” Gretchen rolled her eyes when I said that. “And I’ll just carry it, if you’re so concerned.” I balled up the jacket under one arm, and held my miniature purse with the other.

“You look silly,” Gretchen said. “But cute.”

“Thank you.” I bowed.

I looked out the window at the car idling by the curb. Was Sean going to come in, or did I have to run out there myself?

But there he was, coming up the walk. I took a deep breath and braced myself. Tonight wasn’t going to be easy. At least not at the beginning. First I had to tell Sean that I’d fallen for his brother. Then I had to tell Conor that I wanted to be with him.

Very possibly, I should have done all this before right now.

Gretchen opened the door, and I stood behind her, feeling like it was too eager to be caught looking out the window for your date.

“Wow,” Sean said as I stepped out from behind Gretchen. “You look gorgeous.”

I smiled at Sean, who was standing in the open doorway, a bit stunned. “Thanks,” I said. “You look pretty good yourself.”

Sean was wearing a dark blue suit, and he looked a little like Ashton Kutcher. In other words, very, very good.

“Picture time. Picture time!” Gretchen cried.

I could have killed her. Literally. “You are so like Mom. So like her,” I said.

“Don’t say that. Say cheese,” she replied.

Sean and I posed in the doorway, then we posed by the fireplace, then we posed with Brett.

Finally we convinced her that we really did have to get going. I gave Brett a good-night kiss, arranged the little scarf on my shoulders, and Sean took my hand and guided me over the doorstep and down the front walk.

I walked around to the other side of the car with Sean, and saw a camera flash go off on the front walk.

“Gretchen. Do you really need a shot of us getting into the car?” I asked.

“Yes. Now be quiet and smile and wave.”

I doubted that she caught my smile, because as soon as Sean opened the car door, I saw who was in the car: five other people, including what’s-her-name from the lake. I think I would have rather gone in the old pickup, rust and Conor and all.

Sean and I slid into the front seat next to one of the seven hockey players, Duke, who was driving the car. The other four people were crowded into the backseat. Sean introduced me to everyone, and although I didn’t catch everyone’s names or figure out who had come with whom, I did get her name again: Melissa. She was wearing a sexy, white strapless dress, and she had olive brown skin and looked amazing, a shoo-in contestant for the upcoming “America’s Next Top Model” season.

The fact that she was there didn’t bother me the way it would have a few weeks ago, though it did seem a little tactless on Sean’s part for us to all ride in the same car.

Me? I stuffed my down jacket at my feet and then sat back and tried to relax. We drove past Sean’s house and I looked to see whether Conor’s truck was parked outside. It was. My heart sank. Wasn’t he going to the party?

“We should go out to eat first,” Sean said.

“Aren’t they having food at the party?” I asked.

“Yeah, but I’m starving,” Sean said. “Come on, it’ll be hilarious. We’ll go somewhere cheap, and sit there in our suits.”

“We’re late, though. Let’s just get there,” Melissa said.

I turned around and gave her a half-smile. “I agree.”

“Okay. You guys are probably right,” Sean said. “I still think it’d be fun.”

He reached over and turned up the car stereo’s volume, and the music was sort of blaring. This wasn’t really me, I thought. Also, the music was so loud that I couldn’t talk to Sean then, the way I wanted to. I hadn’t realized we were going to the party in a group.

The song stopped just as I was saying, “I need to talk to you!” in a loud voice.

“Uh oh, sounds serious,” his friend Philip said.

“You’re in trouble, dude,” Duke added.

Everyone started laughing and pushing Sean’s shoulders from the back seat and flicking the top of his head.

“Uh, later. At the party. That would be fine,” I said, smiling at him.

He rested his hand on my leg. “No problem.” Then the next song started to play, and we went screaming down the highway on-ramp at top speed.

The house was breathtakingly beautiful, with white lights strung across the arched portico. A gigantic white wreath hung on the front door, and a snowman held a sign that said “Enter here—Valet parking” in fancy script. We turned over the car to the valet and headed for the entrance, me still clutching my down jacket, Melissa still looking fantastic. I thought she might be there with Philip, but I couldn’t tell. We were all sort of traveling as a pack.

There was a guest list that the doorman checked our names against, then all the girls were each handed a white rose. In the front entryway, which was as big as our entire house at home, there was a large ice sculpture of a king and queen, representing the Winter Carnival royalty. This was without question the fanciest, most elegant party I’d ever attended.

“What do Kevin’s parents do for a living, exactly?” I asked Sean as I gazed around the luxurious mansion, like a little kid seeing Disney World for the first time.

“I have no idea,” he said.

“Well, whatever it is, they should keep doing it,” I said, and we both laughed.

The gigantic room where the party was being held was more like a ballroom than a living room. The lights were set low, and the setting was very romantic, if crowded. There was a cart in the corner, serving Sno-Cones; caterers circled with trays of fancy, homemade versions of Hostess Sno-Balls and glasses of ice water and punch—and fake snow was sprinkled here and there, on top of small, potted pine trees, on skis that were hung on the wall, beside two pairs of old-fashioned skates. Winter Carnival buttons were hanging from silver ribbons dangling from the ceiling, along with silver icicles.

“Wow,” I said as we walked around the room, looking at everything and everyone. “This is so cool.”

“Yeah,” Sean said, nodding. “It was like this last year, too.”

“How many people do you think are here?” I asked.

“About a hundred?” Sean guessed.

“At least,” I said. “More like two hundred, maybe.”

We stood there people-watching for a minute or two. It was sort of weird that we didn’t have anything much to talk about.

“Good band,” I commented.

“Yeah.” Sean nodded.

We were both still standing there surveying the scene, and the crowd. It was like we barely knew each other, we had so little to talk about.

I had to tell him that I’d changed my mind, that I didn’t think we should go away for the weekend after all. Why was this so hard? I didn’t think he’d be crushed, exactly, but it was something I’d never had to do before.

“You want to dance?” Sean asked as a new song started.

“Sure,” I said.

I’d left my jacket at the coat check, and I set my tiny purse on a table, along with the white rose. For some reason this seemed like a crowd you could trust not to take your stuff.

We moved to the center of the dance floor, where about fifty other people were dancing. The band was playing covers of popular songs. Sean and I looked at each other a couple of times as we danced. Suddenly, out of nowhere, all of his friends descended onto the dance floor, surrounding us. It was actually kind of fun, except for the way Melissa kept trying to get close to Sean and bump his hips with hers.