Page 66 of Date Knight (Roll for Romance #2)

Amy

T he holiday let in Manchester was abuzz with activity when I arrived.

It felt weird to be in the city and not see any of my old friends, but they were all several miles away at the wedding on Chris’s family estate, and I felt better than ever about my decision not to go.

I’d taken the train up– without Phil, there had been just one too many people to ride in one car, so I’d sacrificed myself in the name of some alone time– but now I found myself genuinely excited to be there.

I walked through the door Chloe held open, letting the chaos of my friend group envelop me.

“Thank god you’re here!” Chloe squealed as she shut the door behind me. She pulled me in for a hug, forcing me to drop my duffel bag. “No one else knows how to curl long hair.”

“I tried!” I heard Fatima yell from the other room. Chloe just rolled her eyes and pulled me down a long corridor, presumably towards her room. I barely managed to grab my bag again before I was yanked away.

“Grey would come say hi,” she said, “but they’re currently dyeing their buzz cut gold.”

“Oh good, you’re here!” Jack called as he appeared through another doorway. “I have something for you.”

“Oooh, gimme!” I said, holding my free hand out. But Jack just pointed further down the hall.

“It’s in your room,” he said, and I followed his direction to the last door on the right.

I creaked open the door to find a small double room– when we’d booked, we’d obviously thought I’d be sharing with Phil. But I wasn’t mad about having the bed to myself, even if I would rather have had Phil with me.

Though it was probably good he wasn’t there, because there wouldn’t have been room for him. There was barely room for me around the giant white box sat on the bed. Actually, maybe Phil was inside it– it certainly looked big enough to hold a body.

I turned around to look at Jack for an explanation, but he was pulling the door shut behind me, fending off Chloe and her curling wand in the hallway.

I turned back to the box, which was so big I wasn’t sure how Jack had managed to get it through the door.

There was an envelope taped to the top with my name on it.

I opened it and pulled out a folded white card, four stars embossed in gold leaf on the front in the shape of the Aries constellation.

It was beautiful. Elegant, even. Perfect.

I flipped the card open, not at all surprised to see Phil’s chicken scratch handwriting inside.

Amy, I’ve been dreaming this up for you since before you were truly mine, and I don’t believe in letting a good dress go to waste, especially for someone as beautiful as you.

I’m sorry for everything I’ve done to hurt you. I hope you know that you deserve a knight in shining armour, not a fool.

My breathing hitched as I put the card back in its envelope, then set it aside on the bed and lifted the lid of the box to find the dress he hadn’t wanted to go to waste.

I gasped. It was so stunning that it literally took my breath away for a moment. If I’d thought the card had been beautiful and elegant and perfect, those words had entirely new definitions now. This would certainly beat the dress I’d brought with me.

I hadn’t been able to bring myself to buy a new dress for the ball after what had happened with Phil, opting to bring along my outfit from the festival instead.

It wasn’t very formal, but I’d hoped Chloe could help me spruce it up a bit.

Now, though, I was relieved I hadn’t bought anything else, because no matter how wonderful it was, it would have paled in comparison to the piece of art inside that box.

There was a knock at the door, and they’d barely rapped a second time before I yelled for whoever it was to come in. Chloe rushed into the room and pulled the door shut behind her.

“Ooooh, let me see!” she said, peeking around me. When she saw the dress, she gasped just as I had, her hand coming to her mouth. “Holy shit, Amy, that’s incredible.”

“Isn’t it?” I said, sounding breathy as I kicked off my sandals. “Help me get it on.”

Chloe lifted the dress delicately out of the box– or dresses, it turned out, because it was actually in two separate parts.

The strapless sheath under-layer was made of a deep violet satin that felt buttery soft against my skin, and I felt certain he’d chosen the fabric because of how similar it looked to that other purple dress.

Chloe held out the tulle overdress, which was a slightly lighter colour.

She’d loosened the corset lacing at the back, and I dropped down to my knees and stretched my arms up so she could lower it over me.

Then I stood and prepared myself to have to hold my breath whilst she laced me up, but it wasn’t necessary; the dress fit perfectly.

The moment I stood and saw myself in the mirror, I felt tears well up in my eyes.

The soft tulle was covered in delicate gold embroidery– stars of different shapes and arrangements.

There were at least four different layers, each with stars stitched into them, creating a sense of depth, as if an actual galaxy lay hidden in the layers.

I gathered part of the skirt and pulled it up to see closer, and I gasped yet again when I realised that the constellations weren’t just any old ones; they were ours, Aries and Gemini.

I’d need smelling salts if things kept going this way.

The overskirt was much fuller than the sheath beneath, falling in a big puff over the satin like a princess dress.

The corset laced at the back with a long satin ribbon that matched the under-layer, and a swathe of tulle wrapped around my arms and across my chest, creating an off-the-shoulder neckline that made my windswept hair look intentional rather than incidental.

Not that I’d be keeping it this way. A dress this stunning needed a stunning hairstyle to complement it.

“I have no idea what to do with my hair or makeup,” I said to Chloe, who had been fawning over me in the mirror, but now she was staring down into the box again.

“Well, I can do them,” she said, reaching in and pulling out something else– something gold and rigid. “But I think Phil’s coming in clutch with the hair.”

She held a gold headband– a halo headband, I was pretty sure it was called, meant to look like a normal headband, but floating just above my head. The outer circle was covered in delicate stars, swirls and gems that perfectly matched the dress. It was a celestial dream.

Chloe slipped it onto my head, and even over my plait it looked phenomenal. I looked like I was made of stars, just like Eden. It was obvious even at a glance how much time and energy Phil must have put into it, despite famously having no time or energy to spare.

I turned on Chloe suddenly. “When did he do this?” I asked. “And why? We broke up weeks ago. This is too much.”

Chloe shook her head. “I don’t know. I only found out about it today because he had Jack pick it up on our way.”

“It was done when we all went over there earlier this week,” Grey said, poking their now completely golden head in, making us jump. “Sorry. Thin walls.”

“But that doesn’t make any sense,” I said, more to myself than to anyone.

“Well, you look fucking incredible,” Grey said, and I smiled at them before they disappeared again.

“They’re right, you know,” Chloe said, stepping back to look over me from head to toe. “You look fucking incredible.”

“I just don’t understand why he did this.”

“What did you guys talk about the other day?” Chloe asked. “You know, when you kicked us all out?”

“Just that we were gonna be friends,” I said, though that wasn’t really true. “I said I was going to be his friend, whether he liked it or not. That he couldn’t freeze me out just because we weren’t together, and I wasn’t going to run away with my tail between my legs like I did last time.”

“Well, maybe this is him saying he accepts?” Chloe said, though it sounded more like a question. “I mean, he’s made outfits for all of us before. Though this is one hell of a dress.”

On one hand, I hoped she was right. It would hurt sometimes, but going back to being Phil’s friend was almost certainly better than being iced out in the name of protecting me. I didn’t need his protection.

But on the other hand, I wasn’t so sure. Couldn’t we have just reconciled in person? Why the dress? Why the note? Why the radio silence?

I decided to put it to the test. I picked up my phone from where I’d discarded it on the bed and typed out a message.