Bex laughed. The drugstore thing hadn’t been some calculated thing, or a part of some bigger-picture video she was posting. She had just remembered she needed to tell them about an event she had coming up where viewers could join her, and she just happened to be in the drugstore when she remembered, so that’s where she did the Facebook live video. “That’s me. Tylenol and sock girl. Oh, hey, speaking of drugstores, guess who I saw when I was in Hillsboro on Monday? Moss. He looked awful, in case you were wondering.”
Peyton looked at Nikki. “Is that your ex-husband?”
“The one and only.”
“Oh,” Peyton said. “I bet he looked awful. He lost you, after all.”
Nikki just shook her head as she awkwardly tried to lean around Peyton to brush some bronzing powder on Bex, while trying not to let her pregnant belly get in the way. “Stop. You all don’t have to say that anymore. I am married to Owen now, so what Moss looks like is completely irrelevant. I don’t need his life to be awful for mine to be amazing.”
Bex held perfectly still while the women worked on her. “Although it probably is awful, because the guy is a jerk. I’m so glad you found Owen.”
“Me, too. I just wish I hadn’t thrown away all those years dating him and being engaged and married to him. I should’ve listened to you all when you warned me that he was a jerk, or paid attention to the warning signs. I wasted a lot of my life on him.”
Was that what she was doing with Roman? She had been convinced that he was a jerk from the beginning and had told herself to stay away. But then he thoroughly swept her off her feet. Was she being just like Nikki had been back when she was dating Moss and ignoring all the warning signs?
Well, she hadn’t been ignoring them, exactly. She’d been calling him on them. Like when he’d scoffed when the teenage girl had asked for business advice. Then she ignored them. Kind of like how she had ignored how distant and clipped his responses had been ever since he’d called to say the deal with the investors had been finalized a couple of days ago.
“Stand up, sis. Let’s take a look at you.”
Bex looked in her full-length mirror. This dress really was incredible, and she still couldn’t believe she had found it. Especially because the red was the perfect tone for her skin color. Peyton had worked miracles with her hair—it had big chunky curls pulled up beautifully, making her neck look pretty awesome, if she did say so herself. And her makeup made her look like she was practically glowing. Not in a shiny “use me as a beacon to guide in lost ships” way. In an “I have so much awesome inside me, it’s bursting out the only way it knows how—by making my skin glow” way. Which she would take any day of the week.
“You two are miracle workers, and I am so lucky to have you!”
Peyton squealed. “Oh, my stars and stripes, you are so pretty! Let’s go show you to Addison and Ian and Timini!”
Nikki and Peyton ran out of the room and raced down the stairs to go get the others, so by the time Bex made it to the top of the stairs, all five of them were standing in a half-circle at the bottom of the stairs, looking up at her.
She was wearing four inch heels, so she walked down the stairs a little slower than normal. With as dressed up as she was and descending at this speed, she felt like it was either prom or a debutante thing, not just a prestigious web show award thing.
They all started ooh-ing and ahh-ing, so she stopped for a dramatic pose. Timini snapped a picture on her phone.
“Okay, stop, guys. This is weird.” She made it the rest of the way down the stairs.
“Seriously, Bex,” Addison said, “you look absolutely beautiful.”
Timini nodded. “Stunning.”
“You look ready to go on stage and win an award,” Ian said.
“I still think you should’ve gotten a limo to drive you there,” Peyton said, then went to the window by the door and moved the curtain aside. She clapped her hands. “Oh, he’s here!”
Bex turned to face the door as Peyton opened it wide. Roman had just been lifting his arm to knock, and froze when he saw her. Which seemed appropriate, since she was doing the same. He just looked so amazing in his suit! It was perfectly fitted and showed off those strong shoulders and arms, and his trim physique. He was one very beautiful man. She wasn’t going to be able to take her eyes off him all night.
She took a few steps toward him.
“Wow,” he breathed. “You look incredible.”
She came one step closer, to where they were only inches apart.
“You made my heart skip a beat.”
She smiled as she put her arms around his neck. “That sounds dangerous. You should probably get that looked into.”
“Oh, I did. And I have a diagnosis.”
“Yeah?”
He wisely skipped her lipstick and placed a kiss on her neck, right next to her ear, and whispered, “That I am very lucky to be on your arm tonight.”
“Alright, alright, go already,” Nikki said.
“Break a leg!” Peyton yelled. “Do you say ‘break a leg’ for this? Probably not, because you have to climb stairs to get on the awards stage. Um...go win and don’t trip!”
Bex laughed. “Thanks, Pey.”
They walked out of the inn to the sounds of everyone wishing her luck, and Roman opened her car door for her. Once she was seated, he made sure the end of her dress was all inside before he shut her door and went around to his side to get in.
On the way to Portland, they talked about random things, but something was off with Roman. Instead of their chatting being easy, like it usually was, his answers were short and her back was hurting from carrying the conversation. So she eventually stopped trying. Because, truthfully, she was feeling a bit off, too. She’d had a nagging feeling for weeks that she was making a mistake by dating Roman. Until now, she’d been ignoring it. But since Nikki put it into words, she couldn’t stop thinking that there might be warning signs she was ignoring.
Once they pulled onto Morrison Bridge and crossed the Willamette River, though, the excitement for the evening really started to build. They went around the loop and onto Pacific Highway, and moments later, they were pulling up to the Portland Marriott Downtown Waterfront hotel.
They followed the signs posted for the Eddie Awards, and a valet was waiting to take their car. Roman once again opened her door, then held onto her hand and helped her out of the car. She hadn’t ever been to the awards ceremony before, but she’d always pored over the pictures, imagining what it would be like to be there.
Her imagination hadn’t quite captured what it would actually feel like. So, although she knew there would be a red carpet lined with photographers, it felt so surreal to walk down it, hand-in-hand with Roman. Her goal with Bexlandia wasn’t to win an Eddie—it was to connect with her audience authentically and to encourage them to seek out the awesome in their own lives. But winning an Eddie Award was still on her bucket list, and she was going to savor every second here.
When they got to the spot where they would pose for pictures, Roman gave her hand a squeeze and then let go of her hand. “Knock ‘em dead.”
She walked to the mark and posed, cameras flashing all around. After adjusting her pose a few times, waiting for pictures to be taken, she waved Roman over to join her. She definitely wanted pictures of him beside her, looking so fine in his tux. He shook his head, though. “This is your moment to shine.”