Cursive - By Phoebe Lane Page 0,80

only time wasted."

Ellie nodded her head, but then paused. "You know I love you, right?" Ellie asked.

"Yes. I do."

"And you know he's in love with you," Ellie said, without needed to clarify who she was talking about.

"I know. He told me last night."

"Then don't you waste any more time, Aislynn. Throw yourself in. It's time."

I know. But how do I let everything else go?

Aislynn talked to her mom on the way back to the apartment and set up plans for dinner. Ellie had convinced Aislynn to borrow one of her expensive designer dresses since the restaurant Jace had picked was pretty formal and had a dress code. The dress was a gorgeous Grecian style gown in a dark salmon color, with an open back. Her shoes were sky high and detailed with pink crystals.

Her confidence got a huge boost when Jace took his first look at her and temporarily lost his ability to speak.

"Jace, please say something. Is it too much?"

"You look stunning, babydoc. I'm just…blown away," he said.

"Thanks," she said, feeling like her smile was going to be etched in her face permanently.

"And your hair is down. That right there makes me a happy man," he joked. "Are you ready?"

"For dinner, yes. For Pam, never."

"Come on, let's go get her," he said and led her to the car.

They chatted about their day on the way to the hotel. Aislynn filled him in on Ellie and Evan's happy news, but Jace didn't seem to be all that surprised. Apparently, Evan had been smitten with Ellie since the moment they'd met. Jace had never seen him act that way with anyone else.

"Aislynn, relax," Jace reminded her, gently shaking her hand as they walked toward Pam's hotel room. "It'll be fine. And if it isn't, we'll find a way to make it fine, okay?"

"I just have a feeling…" Aislynn said, and forced a deep breath in. "Okay. It'll be fine. The anticipation is usually worse than the actual event," she whispered to herself, almost as an internal pep talk.

They got to Pam's room and knocked on the door. Jace very quickly leaned in to kiss her neck and whispered the best-timed "I love you" in the history of stressful mother-daughter birthday dinner interactions.

"Hi, sweetheart," Pam said as she welcomed them in.

"Hi, Mom. Are you ready to go?" Aislynn blurted out, and felt Jace squeeze his hand on her waist. It was sort of a "calm down" to go along with the "I love you" from earlier.

"Come on in for a second," she said, waving them in. "Hi, Jace. Good to see you again."

"You look great, Pam," Jace said.

"Yeah, Mom. You look beautiful."

"Thank you. I have tell you, it feels great to have a chance to get all dolled up like this. Marc isn't really the type to do this sort of thing often," Pam said, walking toward her desk to grab a small gift box. "Happy birthday, Aislynn," she said, handing her the present.

"Oh, you didn't have to," Aislynn said, feeling a bit embarrassed.

"Of course I did. It's your birthday. Now, open it," Pam said with a smile.

Aislynn opened the box and found a beautiful bracelet adorned with pink gemstones in the shape of cherry blossoms. "It's so beautiful, Mom. Thanks," Aislynn said and hugged her.

"It matches your dress. You want me to help you put it on?" Jace asked.

"Yes, please," she said, turning to him.

"I'm so glad you like it," Pam said. "All right, let me go get my purse so that we can go."

"See? Everything's going okay. Just keep breathing," Jace whispered, and Aislynn nodded, allowing a soft smile to grace her lips.

"Oh wow!" Pam exclaimed as she walked out of the room and noticed Aislynn's back for the first time. "Your hair is so, umm, long. I didn't realize women liked wearing their hair like that anymore."

Aislynn tensed and looked up at Jace, her nails now digging into his arm. "Don't worry, babydoc. The restaurant has plenty of wine."

Aislynn had never been an outdoorsy person. She had only gone camping once in her life, when she was nine years old. She had hated every second of it, except for the fire—for some reason, she had been captivated by the sight of her father making fire.

They had packed all the conveniences of modern camping life for their trip, including matches and lighters, but Jim, her dad, had insisted on teaching Aislynn how to survive out in the elements. He had made it a life mission to teach her things he