Ariana sighed as she lay back down on the blanket and gazed up at the stars. She couldn't tell him the Australia plan, but she could tell him the original dream. The dream she'd had all her life. It would be
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nice to talk about it one last time. At that very moment a white streak cut across the sky, and she had to bite her lip to keep from pointing out the falling star like an excited little girl.
"First Princeton, where I'll major in English literature," Ariana recited, seeing it all play out in her mind as she had imagined it so many times. "Then a job at Vanity Fair in New York and a loft apartment in Chelsea on a quaint, tree-lined street. There, I will of course meet the perfect guy--"
"Wait a second, you haven't done that already?" Hudson protested, placing his hands to his chest in faux offense.
Ariana laughed. "Excuse me. I was talking," she scolded jokingly.
"Pardon me. Continue," Hudson replied, grinning from ear to ear.
The lightness in Ariana's chest was almost distracting in its perfection. She could get used to this feeling. This utter simplicity.
"Of course we'll get married, have two kids, and once I've established myself as a writer, I'll go freelance and we'll move the family back to the homestead in Georgia where--"
"Georgia?" Hudson interjected, his brow knitting. "I thought you were from Chicago."
Ariana's breath turned cold in her lungs. She hadn't just said that. She had not just said that. And, wait a second, had she started to slip into her twang? Dammit. She wasn't sure. What if he had seen her story on the news? Between her mention of Easton and now Georgia, he might definitely put two and two together and figure out who she really was. But a quick glance at Hudson told her he wasn't overly confused or alarmed. Just curious.
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"I am from Chicago," she replied evenly, her gaze back on the night sky, her Northern accent perfectly intact once again. "But I have family in Georgia. My grandmother. I've always loved the plantation she lives on, so I'm hoping I'll get to move there one day."
"That's cool," Hudson said, lying on his back as well. "I've always wanted to go to Georgia and experience the whole Southern charm thing for myself. I hear Dallas doesn't quite do it justice."
"Definitely not," Ariana said, relaxing slightly. "Georgia hospitality is in another class."
"Well, maybe you'll take me to meet your grandmother sometime," Hudson said.
Her gran's gravesite flashed through her mind. Ariana would never get to visit that spot again.
"Maybe I will," she lied.
Hudson turned the conversation toward his class at UT and his plans for the rest of the summer, but Ariana barely heard a word for a good five minutes. She was too busy berating herself for her slip and concentrating on how to keep it from happening again. The last thing she could risk was Hudson finding out who she really was. She hated to think of what she might have to do to him if he did.
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CARNIVAL NIGHTMARE
"Trust me. You need this," Briana Leigh told Ariana as she pulled her gold Cadillac convertible into a parking space at the Plaza of the Americas in downtown Dallas Tuesday afternoon. Her engag
ement ring flashed in the sunlight as she turned off the satellite radio, finally silencing the gratingly loud country-western station she'd been blaring throughout the drive. "Your luggage is obviously gone for good, and you can't keep wearing my old clothes."
No, I really can't, Ariana thought, looking down at the bright, tiered skirt she was currently sporting. What fascinated her was that all these awful clothes were by top designers. It was as if Briana Leigh hunted the boutiques each season for the worst pieces from each collection and filled her closets with them."You're right," Ariana said. "I definitely need some new things." Her phone beeped and Ariana pulled it out of her small, borrowed purse. There was a picture message from Hudson in her in-box.
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Speaking of new things... , Ariana thought wryly, as if Hudson was her new accessory. She opened the picture and smiled. Purple wildflowers filled the screen. The caption read, Saw this and thought of you.
Ariana's heart fluttered happily. Another point for Hudson. He was a true romantic. He'd gone back to Austin Sunday night, and Ariana actually missed him. As Briana Leigh hit the button to raise the ragtop roof, Ariana popped open the glove compartment. She took off her sunglasses and wedged them into the tiny space between the car manual and a box of Altoids, along with her cell. When Briana Leigh wasn't looking, she added her wallet to the mix, then slammed and locked the door.
"Paranoid much? This is, like, the safest street in Dallas," Briana Leigh said, gesturing out the window at the huge Le Meridien hotel across the street.
Ariana's cheeks turned pink. It was an old habit, removing the things she wouldn't need and locking them up in the car. Something her father had always done. And yes, he was paranoid, but for good reason. Everyone in their Atlanta suburb knew that the Osgood family, perched on their old family plantation on the outskirts of their sleepy Southern town, had more money than the rest of the households in the village combined. Her father had been mugged more than once and he had quickly learned his lesson. His theory was that if it wasn't on you, they couldn't steal it, and Ariana had adopted his lock-it-up ritual.
"Old habit," she said with a shrug.