But she also felt like she’d really built something for herself and not just lived a life her family had created for her.
“You’ve done great,” Taylor said. “You don’t have to like all the dresses you sell. You just need to give people what they want. If people want to put their kids in hideous sparkly horrors, that’s their decision.”
“Exactly right,” Ariana agreed, the corners of her mouth twitching slightly since this last comment was her friend trying to be supportive.
“Did you do the dresses for Katherine’s wedding?” Belinda asked in a different tone. Katherine was even newer in town than Ariana. She had moved to Azalea to open the bookstore across the street almost a year ago.
“Yep. They’re gorgeous. Really simple and elegant. I think even Taylor might like them.”
“Fancy dresses aren’t my thing, simple and elegant or not. When is that wedding anyway? Charles and I said we’d go to it, so I guess we better show up.”
“It’s the Saturday before Christmas. So just over two weeks from now,” Ariana said. “At the Presbyterian church. Mike is still out of town for work, but I guess he’ll manage to show up for the wedding.”
Katherine’s fiancé, Mike, was mostly known around town for his absence since he had a demanding job that required a lot of traveling.
“Her brother is already in town,” Belinda put in. “He got here yesterday. I guess he’s going to stay until after Christmas.”
“Oh really?” Ariana was vaguely curious but mostly because she liked Katherine. “She’s always talking about how great he is. Apparently he was the main investor in the bookstore. I’d like to meet him.”
“Anyone would like to meet him,” Belinda said with a mysterious smile.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Taylor asked. “Is he really hot or something?”
“A person might say that. Not me, of course, since Fitz is the only man I find hot anymore.” Belinda was trying—not quite successfully—to keep a completely serious expression. “But a different person might find him hot. Like rugged movie-star hot.”
“There you go,” Taylor said, giving Ariana a little nudge. “There’s a guy for you to go after.”
Ariana still felt curious, but no excitement had sparked inside her. As much as she’d tried this year, she couldn’t seem to summon any romantic interest in anyone.
No matter how hot this brother of her friend might be, he wasn’t going to be as hot as Bradley.
She hated that she still felt this way. It was foolish. Self-defeating. Bradley hadn’t wanted her for anything but a weeklong fling, so no one with sense would still be holding on to his memory.
She’d done so well this year. She’d worked on being her own person. She’d completely gotten over the heartache with Tony.
If only she could get past Bradley’s memory, then she’d have shed the last remnants of the silly person she used to be.
“I don’t want to go after a guy right now,” Ariana said, giving Taylor a significant look. Taylor knew about the fling she’d had last Christmas, and she knew about how hard Ariana had been trying to forget it.
Silent acknowledgment dawned on Taylor’s face, making it clear she understood and wouldn’t tease Ariana on this subject.
“Sadly, he’s already taken,” Belinda put in, unaware of the unspoken communication. “He’s got a girlfriend. And two kids.”
“Oh well, he’s definitely not available then,” Ariana said, vaguely relieved that this man wasn’t remotely eligible and so people in town wouldn’t be trying to pair them up. “But he must be a good guy if even half what Katherine says about him is true. I’m looking forward to meeting him.”
“One day your dream man will come to town,” Belinda said.
Ariana gave her a sharp look, her first instinct equating Bradley with her dream man and so wondering how Belinda knew about him. Then she realized her mistake and felt stupid.
A dream man was just a dream man. Vague. Undefined. Made up of fantasy.
A dream man wasn’t the guy she’d had a no-strings-attached fling with last year and couldn’t seem to get over.
“Not much chance of that. Small towns aren’t exactly filled with dream guys, and all the good single men around have already been taken. But that’s okay. Seriously. I used to really want to get married and have kids, but it doesn’t have to happen for me to be happy. I can just be one of those forever spinsters who people always ask why we never got married, as if it was a conscious choice and not just something that happened to us.”
Taylor wasn’t a touchy person, but she reached over now and gave Ariana’s shoulder a squeeze. “That would be just fine. You’d still have a good life. But you never know how life is going to play out. After all, who would have dreamed I’d go for Charles?”
“I know. But expecting a dream guy to show up in Azalea would be pretty stupid. At this point, it would take a Christmas miracle for him to materialize here.”
“It’s December,” Belinda said, a lilt to her voice. “It’s the time for miracles. Fitz and I got together over Christmas last year. You never know what might be in store.”
Ariana smiled at her friends since they were clearly trying to be encouraging.
But the thing was, she didn’t need encouragement. She was perfectly fine as she was. And when she finally shed Bradley’s memory, she’d be even finer.
She didn’t need a Christmas miracle this year.
ARIANA CLOSED HER SHOP at six on Wednesdays, so later that day she was locking up and pulling on her pretty red wool coat at 6:06.
It wasn’t really cold enough for a wool coat. This part of Virginia often stayed moderate in temperature all through December. But it was a couple of weeks before Christmas now, so Ariana was determined to wear her festive red coat over her fitted black pants and pale blue top no matter what the weather outside.
She felt pretty and cheerful as she walked down the one main street of downtown Azalea to the parking lot where she kept her car. She waved at the laundromat ladies—who gathered every afternoon to chat and were inside now that it was winter—and then glanced across the street.
The bookstore front was decorated for Christmas. It looked bright and welcoming. Better than heading home to try not to feel like a third wheel in the face of Charles and Taylor’s romantic bliss. So she crossed the street, pausing before she went through the doors because Belinda’s husband Fitz called out a greeting to her from down the street.
Ariana waved and had a thirty-second conversation with him before she went inside.
She liked it here in Azalea. She knew people. They treated her like she belonged. She had a business that was doing well despite her inexperience. She could be perfectly happy here even if she never found a dream man.
It was good.
It was all good.
And soon she’d stop thinking wistfully of those days she’d spent with Bradley. She’d probably overinflated their power and significance. If she met him now, she might not even really like him.
She had no reason to be discontent.
It was Christmas, and she had a very good life.