Page 196 of Manhattan Bossholes

“My hair is going to frizz.” It always did when the weather was like this.

“I say we go with a low updo and keep it off your neck,” Jennifer said, pulling my hair back and holding it in place as we both stared into the full-length mirror. “That way you can accessorize with some pretty jewelry but still get your mask on.” Jennifer was due at the restaurant in an hour, but she’d agreed to help me get ready for the party before she left. “We could put it up with one of those fancy claw clips you have.”

I nodded in agreement. “Then hairspray the shit out of it.”

Jennifer clapped her hands together. “That’s the spirit.”

I dragged a chair in front of the mirror and sat down as Jennifer set to work, brushing the tangles from my hair and smoothing out all the bumps. “I really wish you could come tonight,” I said.

She offered me a sad little smile in the mirror. “I tried to get tonight off, but there’s just no one to cover for me.”

I reached back to squeeze her hand. “I understand. It would have been nice to have someone there in my corner, though.”

“Well, I wouldn’t want to take away from your time with Aiden,” she teased.

I sighed, releasing her hand.

“Uh oh. What’s wrong?”

“Things have been weird with me and Aiden.”

“Weird how?” Jennifer asked, twisting my hair into a fancy knot at the back of my head.

“Just…odd,” I said. “You know that feeling you get when you’re out of step? Or like when you know you’re not connecting the way you normally do, but you don’t know why?”

She frowned as she pressed my baby hairs down with hairspray. “You feel like you’re not connecting?”

I lifted my shoulder. “It sort of feels like he’s pulling away.”

“Well, he can’t have pulled away very far…” Jennifer said, gesturing to the concealer we’d used to cover the new hickey on my collarbone.

“Yeah, okay fair,” I said. “But even with that, I had to come on pretty heavy to get Aiden to touch me in the first place.”

“Hmm…Has he said anything?”

“Nothing! I literally don’t have anything to go on, which is what’s most frustrating. It just seems like any time we’re alone together, he finds an excuse to get away from me.”

“To go where?”

“It’s been all about the launch party lately, but what if that’s just an excuse?” When we’d finally come together at the reunion, it had felt so right, but maybe that was only on my part. Maybe for him, it was just nostalgia or old memories getting the better of him. It seemed like he wanted me—the grown-up me that I was now—but maybe I was just seeing what I wanted to see.

Jennifer added the clip to my hair, making adjustments until she was satisfied with the placement. “What if he’s just stressed about the launch?”

“He could be,” I said. I’d love to believe that—but it really felt like there was something more going on.

“You think you’re being paranoid because of what happened with Levi? Or because of what happened with Aiden the last time?”

“Maybe.” Perhaps I was a little hypersensitive when it came to the idea of being left behind—especially since I still didn’t know why he ended things back then. But just because we broke up when we were kids didn’t mean it was going to happen now. He hadn’t said anything about wanting to end things. Maybe he was just struggling to juggle a relationship, a multi-million-dollar company, and a new product launch. He’d said himself that he hadn’t had a serious girlfriend since he launched Elixir. It could be that he just didn’t know how to be a good boyfriend when he had so much else going on.

Jennifer rubbed her hands up and down my arms. “Hair’s done. You look amazing. How about you try not to stress about the Aiden stuff tonight and enjoy the evening? You’ve worked as hard as anyone on this line. Actually, there wouldn’t even be a line if it wasn’t for you. So go have a good time, let people fawn over you, and we’ll figure out what’s got Aiden out of sorts tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” I said, smiling. “Okay.” I could work with that. I would focus on one thing at a time. Tonight was the launch. Tomorrow, I would tackle everything else.

There was a knock at the door.

“That’ll be Aiden,” I said, getting to my feet and adjusting my dress once more.

Jennifer pecked me on the cheek. “I’m gonna go get ready for work. You two have fun. Don’t stress.”