“Oh my—“ Julie started, and he held his hand out in front of her, trying to pull her toward him as the car skidded toward the embankment on the passenger side. Then they were in the grass, slowing, until they finally stopped again.
Then, with his heart pounding, he turned and met Julie’s gaze. “I’ll tell Luke. I promise.”
Present Day
Julie sat in the bar of the Holiday Inn, swirling her cocktail in her hand and wondering if tomorrow would be her last day as an almost-could-have-been big time fashion designer.
She glanced at the TV, knowing that no news of such a small time event would dare cross a big city news station. Maybe that was some consolation. If she failed tomorrow, nobody would know except a small army of people. She could pick a new dream and drive across the country. Start a new life.
Yeah, that would be perfect.
Her heart sank a little deeper in her chest and she took another sip of her cosmopolitan before staring out at the lobby. Her mother and Amy were due to arrive any moment and Luke would be following them in the morning. She’d be everything she told them she was…she’d be a star.
And she hated it.
She didn’t want to parade around the stages and parties, didn’t want to mingle with all the people she’d been hoping to meet for so long. But there was not a damn thing she could do about it. The stage was set, all she had to do was go and take credit…and let Troy have his credit, too.
She knocked back the rest of her drink, then ordered another as the lobby door swung open and her mother and sister traipsed into the place, suitcases in hand. Without her fresh cosmo, she couldn't do anything but sit there and watch her mother smile at the concierge, so proud. She was in the big city for her daughter’s big day.
Then there was Amy, with her shining blond hair and a dress that looked like it had been made for her. Even as a fashion designer, Julie had never managed to out-dress her sister. She looked lovely in her black and white striped dress. When her bright red heels start clicking their way toward Julie, she knew that every man in the place was bound to turn their head as Amy Hamden-Smith passed them by.
Her head was held high as always and when her gaze finally landed on Julie at the bar, she grinned and waved. The sister she’d always wanted.
Amy sat down beside her as their mother finished the last of the check-in process, then turned to the bartender and asked for a "vodka soda, straight up." The same drink she always ordered.
"It has the fewest calories," she explained for what must have been the thousandth time. As if she had to watch her weight despite her five-hour stretches in the gym.
"Hey," Julie said when her sister had finished ordering.
"Hey." Amy smiled at her. "You nervous?"
"I..." Julie considered how best to answer, but then their mother's voice broke through and interrupted her thoughts.
"My girls in one place. I never get tired of that." She clasped each of their shoulders and shook them, then took her place on the other side of Amy and leaned over the counter to see them both. "Busy day, Julie girl?"
"Yeah, very."
"It'll all be worth it come tomorrow."
"Maybe."
"It will. I have every confidence that--"
"No. Wait." Julie was speaking before she knew what she was saying, but it didn't matter. The words she’d tried to keep in for so long were pushing their way out, demanding to be heard.
It wouldn’t help her now. It wouldn’t make even a little bit of difference. It could only hurt her.
And yet…
She pictured Chase’s trim frame just before he’d turned away from her and it was all she could do not to pour out the whole sad story in one breath.
"What? What's the matter?" Their mother's eyebrows knitted together and she reached out to take Julie's hand, but J
ulie ignored it.
"I'm a fraud," Julie said.
"You're--"