“I miss you.” It was the first thing out of his mouth. Not hey, Liz or Lizzie, as he had grown accustomed to calling her. Simply I miss you.

Liz knew that she hadn’t given her relationship with Hayden a hundred percent from the beginning. It was her own fault. She had let her own problems hold her back. She had clung so fiercely to her previous relationship with Brady—the late-night rendezvous, the intense passion, the adrenaline of the secret affair, falling blindly in love—that she hadn’t been able to see what was right in front of her. But in that moment, it didn’t matter what had happened before. She knew that if she wanted this to work—and she did—she needed to actually try to put some emotional distance between her and Brady and concentrate on the person who was putting in the effort.

Which was how she ended up convincing her parents to move her plane ticket to D.C. so she could spend New Year’s with Hayden. Better yet, the very next day his sister, Jamie, had the grand opening of her new art collection. After selling out of every single painting in her fall show, she had been commissioned for another, more prestigious exhibition.

Hayden picked her up at baggage claim at Reagan National Airport on New Year’s Eve. Liz dropped her heavy carry-on bag on the ground at his feet when she reached him and threw her arms around his neck.

“Hey, gorgeous.” He pulled her tight against him and she stood like that for a minute, just breathing him in.

“You smell so good,” she whispered.

Hayden chuckled. “Thanks. It’s good to have you back. Don’t go so far away again, okay?”

“Okay,” Liz murmured, surprised at how easily she agreed with him.

They picked up her oversize suitcase from baggage claim and Hayden wheeled it out to his car. They drove the short distance into the city, and Liz smiled as she started recognizing the familiar brownstones near where Jamie lived. It seemed so long ago that she had come up to D.C. for a weekend to see Hayden practically on a whim. And yet . . . so much of what had happened last summer always seemed to be fresh in her mind.

The last time she had been here, Brady had just confessed to loving her. Not to her, of course. He could never let himself slip like that. He had told his press secretary, Heather, and his attorney, Elliott. Liz shook her head. She didn’t really want to think about it, but memories of Brady never seemed to care. They just cropped up unbidden.

Maybe it would be okay to remember them once they didn’t do so much damage to her heart. Until then she would continue to wrestle them down.

Once they were parked, inside the brownstone, and up the three impossibly steep flights of stairs, the door practically burst open. Jamie grabbed Liz and yanked her into the apartment with way more force than someone with such a small frame should possess. Jamie immediately launched into a full-on excited question-and-answer session about Liz’s trip, flight, ride over, and more.

Hayden walked into the back and deposited her bag in the spare bedroom, leaving her alone to Jamie’s barrage. Liz tried to keep up with all of the questions, but Jamie was so enthusiastic, her black bob bouncing as she seemed to dance in place, that sometimes she would start asking another question before even letting Liz answer the previous one.

“Geez, Jamie, lay off,” Hayden said, appearing in the doorway again. “She just got here. Take a breath.”

Jamie shot him a death glare, but when she looked back at Liz, her giddy smile was back. “It’s so good to have you here again. I was so happy when Hayden told me you would be here for the opening of my exhibition!”

“I’m glad it worked out too,” Liz told her.

Liz greeted Jamie’s boyfriend, James, who was never too far away from the brilliant artist, and her roommate, Meredith, who was a Pilates instructor and had a killer body because of it. Apparently James had moved into Jamie’s room during the fall, so they wouldn’t have to fill the spare bedroom with another unfamiliar body. Liz was sure that Jamie just liked having James close all the time. Liz had had the same feeling at the airport when she saw Hayden.

Her flight had gotten in relatively late, and they didn’t have much time to get ready. Jamie had scored them some comped tickets from one of her art buyers to a private party downtown. Her paintings were picking up steam among high-end clientele and politicians, and these perks seemed to keep dropping into her lap. The event was a black-and-white affair, but not black tie, which meant that the guys didn’t have to wear tuxes and the girls didn’t have to go for formal wear. That was lucky for Liz, who certainly hadn’t packed a floor-length dress.

Instead, she changed into a long-sleeved black sequined dress, thick black patterned tights, and shiny black heels. She wrapped a white infinity scarf around her neck and paired it with matching white gloves and her trusty black peacoat. The temperature difference was stark compared to the balmy seventy-five degrees she had been relaxing in in Tampa.

The five of them piled into James’s Expedition and drove into town. They normally would have taken the Metro, but Jamie had been given a parking pass too.

James pulled up in front of the Gaylord Hotel at Washington National Harbor about thirty minutes later. When Liz laid eyes on the building, she was blown away. It was a colossal structure that looked more like a compound than a hotel, with a glass greenhouse and full Bellagio-style water display inside the waterfront structure.

A valet handed James a ticket and then they were whisked away into the giant hotel. An attendant checked their tickets and directed them through the red-carpeted lobby to a massive ballroom. Hayden wrapped an arm around Liz's waist to hold her close to him as they stepped over the threshold together.

The room was already packed nearly wall-to-wall with people dancing to the DJ’s beats. She could see that the space had been divided into different areas depending on whether you wanted a DJ, live entertainment, or a slightly quieter environment. A set of stairs led up to a secluded VIP area that had her mind drifting off and away to a time when she had walked up similar stairs in Charlotte the very first time she had ever met Brady.

After depositing their jackets at the coat check, Jamie led the way through the crowd, bouncing along like no one was elbowing or running into one another. Finally they found a slightly quieter area and sent the guys to go get drinks.

Jamie spotted an available table near the corner and skipped over to grab it before someone else did; then she waved Liz and Meredith down as if they hadn’t been following her. Free spirit simply did not do Jamie justice. Sometimes Liz wondered how she and Hayden were related.

“Oh my God, Liz, I am so happy that you’re here. Aren’t we, Meredith?” Jamie asked without waiting for Meredith to respond. “I just knew that you and Hayden would start dating. He’s so much cooler when he’s with you. Do you think I could have dragged him to this without you? No way. He’s too uptight.”

Liz laughed softly and took a seat at the table. “Well, I’m glad I could oblige you.”

“Plus, I totally love you as a person. Doesn’t she have such a great presence, Mere?” she asked. Meredith opened her mouth to say something, but Jamie just kept right along. “I’m just so glad that he brought you for New Year’s this year. The snobby bitch he brought last year drove me nuts.”

“What?” Liz asked, before she could think better of it.

“I mean, we weren’t even going to the same party, and I was ready to ditch her before dinner ended. Do you remember her, Mere?”

“Wait, what girl?”

“I remember her,” Meredith said, getting a chance to speak up. “Redhead, right?”

“Yes! That’s her. I don’t remember her name, but I’m glad she’s gone. And I’m glad you’re here!” Jamie cried with a practically buoyant smile.