here, finding out about her grandpa’s dating life.
Hadley shook her head and made a tsk-tsk sound. “You’re going to have to call Mom and tell her we’re not coming home today.”
“That seems extreme—especially when it comes to news she’s not gonna want to hear. I’ll text.” PawPaw took out a brick of a phone and started thumb typing. “You two are lucky that I’ve got more than enough tie-dye to share and that I’ve got a spare room, because Rochelle is having a family reunion and there are Burgesses packed into every hotel room for miles.”
Hadley’s eyes went wide. “We can drive home tonight and come back tomorrow.”
Will’s stomach took a ten-story nosedive at the idea of driving back three hours today only to do it all over again tomorrow.
“Don’t be silly, Trigger.” PawPaw hooked his arm through Hadley’s and started walking with her toward the green space. “Plus, this way we’ll get an early start in the morning. I already told your mom we’d be there by lunch. So now you two can have a little dinner and dancing. What could be better than that?”
Okay, Will could think of about a million things better than that—especially since he and Hadley still hadn’t said a single word to each other since she’d tipped her hand with all those questions in the convenience store. However, saying that wasn’t part of his plan.
“I can’t think of anything better,” he said, falling into step with Hadley and PawPaw.
“Looks like it’s a plan, then. Don’t you worry, Trigger, I bet one of the ladies has an extra tie-dye outfit you can borrow.” He looked over at Will. “I’ve got a couple of Grateful Dead T-shirts that should work for you.”
Will wasn’t usually a costume kind of guy, but if it meant not getting in the car again until tomorrow, then he’d wear a chicken suit if necessary.
…
How had this happened? How had Hadley ended up wearing a tie-dyed micromini dress as three of her grandpa’s girlfriends wove daisies in the single, loose braid flowing down her back? This was nuts. Totally bananas.
“Are you sure I shouldn’t wear my jeans with this?” she asked, tugging down on the hem that barely reached mid-thigh.
Marion gasped, whipping her head around so fast to stare at Hadley in shock that her no-nonsense bob, dyed a dignified brown, took a heartbeat to catch up. “And ruin the look?”
Alice added a final daisy to Hadley’s hair and stood back to admire her work. “When my cousin sent me this dress all the way from California all those years ago, my daddy forbade me from wearing it.” She let out a sigh that spoke of could’ve beens and if onlys. “I’ve had it in a trunk ever since. Don’t you dare ruin this dress’s coming out by wearing it with jeans.”
Cat smoothed the dress’s Peter Pan collar and then locked eyes with Hadley in the mirror. “Just be careful how you sit in it or you’ll be showing the world your good china.”
Great, something new to worry about beyond the fact that she was going to have to dance with Will. She’d tried to work out a way to avoid it and had come up totally blank. Taking a deep breath—and offering up a quick prayer that the fifty-year-old seams of a one-size-smaller-than-her-belly-liked dress would hold—she had to admit defeat. She hated that. But there was no way around it. She was going to have to get up close and personal with the big jerk who happened to be saving her ass.
Luckily, Alice, Cat, and Marion had just the thing to settle her pre-dance nerves—Ensure spiked with vodka. She’d questioned it at first, but after one drink, it was obvious these older women knew what they were about.
“This was really nice of you guys,” she said, lifting her glass in a toast. “Thank you.”
Cat fluffed her steel-gray curls that went down to her shoulders and gave her a smile. “It’s not every day we get to kidnap one of Paul’s granddaughters and dress her up.”
Hadley had no idea how to respond to that, so she just smiled at the three self-appointed fairy godmothers and let them get on with her transformation.
“Shoes! You need something besides…those,” Cat said, finishing by pointing at Hadley’s running shoes and wrinkling her pert little nose in disappointment.
“I have just the thing, one minute.” Marion disappeared into her bedroom, moving quickly despite her cane that had tennis balls on its three-pronged base. She returned a moment later