Surrendering Series Box Set

“How is he?” Rory asked.

“Really good. I’m not actually sure he hasn’t been abducted by aliens and replaced with someone else. He’s upbeat and seems . . . good. Really good.”

Rory gave Lucah a hug.

“Thank you so much, Sloane. For pushing him to do this. I think, this time, it’s going to work. He’s going to get his life together.”

“I didn’t do anything,” I said. “It was all him. I just encouraged him. That’s it.” I didn’t want to take credit for helping Ryder.

“No, really. I haven’t been so nice to you, and I’m sorry. I guess I thought you were going to be interested and then bail on him, but you never did. You stood by him and you didn’t have to.” He reached for my hand then pulled me into a hug.

“My brother is lucky to have you,” he said. I hugged Lucah back.

“Stop it, you two. You’re making me get all emotional,” Rory said, grabbing for some tissues.

Lucah and I had always had sort a brotherly-sisterly relationship. I’d never been attracted to him, and not just because he was with Rory.

I wasn’t sure I believed in fate, but I did know that if Rory hadn’t met him, I wouldn’t have met Ryder, and life would be very different right now.

“He’s going to do it,” I said as Lucah released me and Rory blew her nose loudly.

“I know,” he said with a smile.

~*~*~

Ryder’s letters continued to make me laugh and kept me going through the last few days before my show. I brought them with me to the studio, since I spent more than a few nights there getting everything ready. A model broke her ankle at the last minute, so I had to fit the lingerie set to a backup model who was bigger than the original model. There were plenty of other little disasters that had to be dealt with.

Inari kept me sane with coffee, and solved some problems before I even knew they were problems.

On the day of the show I woke up from my couch in the studio and looked at the clock. It was only six in the morning, but I was wide awake. There were a lot of people coming to this show. Potential buyers and press, and some of my competition no doubt. I hadn’t had time to work in the tear-away lingerie, but when I did my pitches I was going to mention it.

Even though it was insanely early, I went out into the main part of the studio. We had all the outfits in garment bags and ready to go, each marked with the model’s name who would wear it and the order it was appearing in the show. It might not seem like a big deal to some, but the order of pieces was critical to give the right overall feel.

The day before we’d spent hours making sure everything was in the right bags and in the right order. I’d double checked them and so had Inari, but I wanted to check them one more time. I hit the lights and pulled the bags out one at a time, making sure everything was set.

Then I checked again and made myself stop. It was nearly eight now, so I headed out of the studio and up the street to the little coffee place I’d been with Ryder and got a latte with a triple shot. It might be a bad idea to consume so much caffeine when I was this stressed, but I did it anyway.

Inari arrived shortly after I finished my coffee and the Danish I’d gotten with it. The rest of my team would be in by nine and we’d all go over to the converted church to get everything set up.

“How you doing?” she asked.

“Fine. I’ve had three shots of espresso,” I said, and I knew I was talking a little too fast.

“Okay then, how about we lay off the coffee for a little while?” she said, speaking slowly to me. “How about I get you some water?”

I nodded and she went to do that.

“Did you get the van?” I asked when she came back and handed me a glass of water.

“It’s parked downstairs. Do you want to start loading it?” she asked.

I had too much energy to just stand still, so Inari and I started carrying things down to the rented van. Everything else was already over there and had been set up last night, so we only had to bring the clothes. Like everything else with this show, things had gone nearly perfectly, and I couldn’t wait to see the whole thing.

“When are the models getting here?” I asked. On show day, Inari was my savior, my sanity, my everything.

“At noon. Well, they’re supposed to be here at noon for fittings, rehearsal, hair and makeup,” Inari said. It was a lot to squeeze in to only five hours, but we had to get it done.

Time blurred. I turned into a whirling dervish, trying to get as much done as I could in a very short period of time. Before I knew it, I was standing backstage, the seats were filled, the lights were up, and I was holding a microphone in my hand.