I can’t believe it’s taking so long you look beautiful in anything.

 

She grinned, plucking the sunny yellow dress off its hanger. But before she could put it on she scrunched her nose at the broken strap. “Guess this one wasn’t meant to be.”

Her mother tapped on the door. “I think I found it.”

Maven cracked the door, peering out. In her mother’s grasp was the most amazing thing she ever seen. She immediately grabbed for it, her mother smiled from ear to ear, glad she finally satisfied her daughter.

Maven quickly slipped into the strapless turquoise dress her smile never leaving her face. It was right out of a fairy tale. Three different lengths of sheer turquoise fabric made the skirt.  It even had a shiny satin belt that formed into a graceful bow around the waist. She opened the door watching her mother’s eyes light up with approval. They hi-fived, giggling like two teenage girls heading to prom. Maggie groaned, sinking farther down in her seat trying to disappear.

“You look beautiful. That’s definitely the one.” Her mother gave her arm a squeeze and let her slip back into the dressing room to undress.

Shopping wasn’t over with. After forcing Maggie to pick a dress—which ended up being black with a dreadful looking tutu style skirt that she said she was wearing with combat boots or Converse—they headed to the woman’s section so their mother could find something appropriate for the night.

It wasn’t often her mother dressed up. Both her parents worked a lot of hours—even in the summer.

“I’m going over to the food court,” Maggie announced, taking off before anyone could say otherwise.

Maven circled the racks of dresses, watching her mother work her way from one rack to the next. She was fussy yet uncomplicated.

“What do you think Henri will wear?” Her mother asked, her eyes glued to a simple white sundress.

“I’m not sure.” She imagined Henri in a fancy tie.

“He’s a handsome guy.” Her mother told her. “He doesn’t look like all these guys running around with the beaver haircut.”

Maven laughed at her mother’s poor pop culture knowledge. “It’s not beaver.” She shook her head, unable to correct her because she was laughing so hard.

“Well, I just mean he has the hair of a refined actor from my time.” She smiled.

Maven scrunched her nose. “He gets cuter every time he speaks.”

Her mother’s eyes widened. “That’s not something I ever thought my teenage daughter would say. Those are the words of a woman in love.”

Maven’s cheeks grew warm. She looked away. “There is no such thing as love, Mother.”

Her mother smirked. “I beg to differ. Your father and I fell into it a very long time ago. And I have been falling ever since.”

Maven loved hearing about her mother’s undying love for her father. But it wasn’t normal. Most people fell in and out of love their whole life. Her parents were a very rare thing.

“Henri is never going to love me.” She shook her head at the thought of it. “He has much bigger things to deal with than falling in love.”

This disappointed her mother. It was horrible that her daughter would think such a thing. Love wasn’t something you decided. It was thrust upon you at the most inopportune times in your life. You didn’t choose when or who to love, love chose you.

Maven sighed. She hated to be so open about Henri’s health. It made it more real. It was illogical, but she thought if she ignored it, that he would always be there. But other times it was hard to make it through a day knowing. She felt like she was going to burst if she didn’t talk about it. “I don’t think Henri will ever admit he cares about me because he doesn’t want to hurt me. He’s not selfish.”

Her mother returned the white dress to the sales rack and wrapped her arm around her. “You don’t know that. I think Henri thinks a lot about you, whether he says so or not. It’s written all over him every time he looks at you.” She smoothed her hair. “It’s too early to give up hope.”

Maven stepped out of line to check her phone. Another text from Henri.

 

You me and a pizza?

Sounds nice

Hurry before Flynn eats it all, got your favorite kind, pineapple.

Maven grinned, her heart fluttering.

One day I will convince you to try it. It’s yummy.

Let’s start with pineapple lip gloss. If I can stand kissing it off your lips then I’ll give pineapple pizza a shot, deal?

Maven giggled loud enough to make the woman sampling perfumes look over at her.

She stuffed her phone back in her pocket. The girls behind her started up a conversation.

“Tatiana is crushed.” Maven’s ears perked up at the familiar name and she froze where she was. She couldn’t help but listen in on the gossip. There weren’t many Tatiana’s in Portwood.

“What do you think happened?”

“I don’t know. But I heard he dumped her on Facebook.” The girls laughed at the shocking rumors that were nothing but ugly to Maven. She knew how it felt to be in Tatiana’s shoes.

“I wonder who he is dating now. I’m sure he already had a backup.”

Maven’s mother tapped her on the shoulder. “Are you ready?”

Maven shot the girls one last look before heading out of the dress shop with her mother. Jake and Tatiana’s liaison lasted less than a year. What had been the point of ruining her life for less than a year? Jake Summit always seemed to find a new way to destroy someone’s life. And part of her was glad that this time it wasn’t her who had to deal with the heartache. Her heart was healing just fine.

 

UNINVITED

MAVEN’S FATHER SMILED at the sound of his daughter’s laughter outside on the porch. A sound he had begun to miss. But now it was back and he could see why she enjoyed Henri’s friendship so much. Henri had a way to make her all smiles and free from care.

Maven’s mother snuck up behind him. She wrapped her arms around him.

“Are you enjoying your day off?”

“Absolutely, but not as much as our daughter and Henri,” Her dad pointed out, he raised a finger signaling his wife to wait. Seconds later another giggle slipped through the windows.

“He’s a nice boy.” She stroked her husband’s arm, planting a kiss on his cheek.

“I know that. I try to tell myself that every day that I see her take off for his house.”

“She’s happy. Happier than I have seen her in a long time,” her mom said.

He parted the curtain, giving the lovebirds one more look before he took his sandwich and went into the den for lunch.

“I swear I was born with two left feet,” Henri said. He watched Maven’s eye sparkle as she giggled about his poor dancing skills. Her legs draped lazily over his lap. They swayed carelessly on the porch swing.

“You’ll do just fine.” Her hair fluttered in the breeze. “We are going to have a lot of fun. And we are going to take a lot of pictures.”

Henri idly ran a thumb against her thigh, listening attentively

“And they will be the best pictures ever.” She smiled, sitting up and resting her head against Henri’s shoulder, the mood dying down.

Maven touched his face, staring off, stroking the side of it, lost in an awful contemplation. The thought that one day all she would have of him were pictures. She pulled her phone from her pocket.

“What are you doing, Maven?” Henri asked, tugging the beanie from his head and covering his face with it. Maven pulled his arm away from his face.