convince Thomas to give up on his impossible dream.
“I’ll always love your father, but I’m never going to be in love with him again,” she tried to explain as she checked on him before going to bed.
“Yeah, I get it,” he muttered, not looking up from his phone.
“Get some sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day.”
“Do I have to go?”
“To the press conference? I suppose not, but I’d really like you to be there.”
“I’ll think about it.”
Convinced she’d never sleep, Terri climbed into bed and squeezed her eyes shut. “Go to sleep,” she told herself. It seemed only moments later when her alarm began to ring.
“Are you ready for tonight?” Camille asked as Terri walked into her office at the end of the school day.
“No, not even close. The day just flew past, as they do when you’re dreading something coming up. I’ve never been to a press conference. What do I wear? I don’t have to say anything, do I?”
Camille shrugged. “You need to ask Lucas those questions. I just want to see that ring.”
Terri flushed and looked down at her left hand. “It’s pretty amazing.”
“It’s fabulous. I can see why Karen asked about it.”
“Karen asked about it?”
“She rang this morning to let me know that Junior would be late to school and then casually mentioned that she’d seen you last night with Lucas. It was quite amusing, really, as she struggled to find a way to ask about the gorgeous ring you were wearing. She said she wondered if it was a family heirloom or something, because she’d never noticed you wearing it before.”
Terri laughed. “My family heirlooms are considerably less spectacular than this.”
“Yeah, mine too.”
Terri’s phone buzzed loudly, interrupting the conversation.
“’Don’t worry about what to wear. I have several options for you to choose from. Please be at the Riverside at six,’” she read out the text message.
“Well, there you go. Nothing to worry about.”
“One less thing to worry about, anyway, assuming he got my size right and his choices are actually things I’d wear.”
“I suppose you’ll find out at six.”
Terri glanced at the clock on the wall and sighed. “I better get home. It’s going to be a busy weekend.”
“Are you going to the Harvest Festival tomorrow?”
“Definitely. I’ve promised Thomas that we’ll go for breakfast and stay all day. I have a ticket for the ball tomorrow night, too, but I don’t know if Lucas managed to get one or not. I believe it’s sold out.”
“I suspect the organizers will find a ticket for him if he wants to go.”
Terri nodded and then headed for the door. “Do you want to hang out at the festival tomorrow?”
“Sure. Max will be with us, but that doesn’t matter.”
“I’ll text you in the morning when I have a better idea of what’s happening.”
“Sounds good.”
Thomas was playing on his phone and eating a sandwich when she got home.
“Hey,” she said as she walked into the kitchen.
“Hey,” he replied, not looking up.
“I have to be at the Riverside at six. Are you coming along?”
He sighed deeply. “I suppose.”
“It will look better if you’re there,” she told him. “And we want it to look really convincing. Remember, Lucas is paying me to do this, and that money is going to put you through college.”
Thomas shrugged. “What do I wear?”
“I’ve no idea. Whatever you want, I guess.”
At the Riverside, they were escorted to the owner’s suite on the top floor of the small boutique hotel.
“Ah, good afternoon,” Douglas Holloway greeted them. “I have piles of clothing for you both to pick from and if you don’t like anything, I can get more.”
“I’m happy like this,” Thomas said.
Douglas looked at his clean but worn jeans and sweatshirt with the high school logo on it and nodded. “That’s fine, if you’re comfortable in it. Take a look at your options, though. You might find something you like better. You can take everything home with you, anyway, if you want it.”
He showed them into one of the bedrooms and then shut the door, leaving them to look through two huge racks of clothing.
“These jeans cost something like five hundred dollars a pair,” Thomas said a moment later. “And look at this,” he held up a sweatshirt with a discreet designer logo on one sleeve. “Donald Archer has one of these sweatshirts. He said it cost over a thousand dollars.”
“Does that mean you’re going to change?”
Thomas shrugged. “I don’t know. I think I’d feel weird in all this fancy stuff.”
“It’s up to you,” Terri replied