“I believe in Jared,” Lucy announced. “He’s right. I’ve viewed our relationship through a lens of fear from the start. I compared him to Barrett every step of the way. And that’s not fair to either of us.”
“Because Jared lied to you,” Nicole pointed out.
“I’ll give Jared the benefit of the doubt.” Emma tapped her golden shoe as she glanced out at the stretch limo.
“But what about the next time?” Nicole demanded. “Or next year when he’s missing his wild, fast-moving life in New York?”
“I don’t know,” Lucy said. “I can’t possibly know what will happen. But I’m certain that if I don’t accept this invitation, if I let my fears win, then I’ll never know what could have been.”
“I suppose Delaney will understand if we explain that you left to chase your Happy Ever After,” Emma said slowly.
“She will,” Lucy said.
“But before you get in that limo,” Emma continued. “You need to go upstairs and take off your gown. You can’t go anywhere looking like—”
“Cinderella?” Lucy smiled at her. “You’re a great matchmaker, Em. Really. You’re the best.” She turned, kicked off her glass slippers, and raced up the stairs.
“Please hurry,” the driver called. “We don’t have much time.”
“What if he breaks her heart?” Nicole’s sharp tone reached her as Lucy mounted the top step.
“We’ll be here to put her back together again,” Emma said.
Lucy stepped onto the second floor landing and barreled down the hall to her bedroom. She would think about the potential heartbreak later. Right now, she chose to believe in his prince.
“Please, please don’t let me down, Jared.”
Chapter 27
Hundreds of people lined the edges of Main Street U.S.A. The summer sun shone down on pavement, but the crowd refused to give up their selected spaces along the parade route. Lucy saw the familiar ice cream cones topped with chocolate ears. The sweet treat melted quickly in the Florida heat, but the sugary scent lingered in the air. Children sat on the curb, gazing out at the nearly empty street. Cast members—the Magic Kingdom’s official title for the always smiling staff on crowd control duty—stood in the street and assured the crowd the afternoon parade would pass by them in just a few minutes.
Most of the onlookers were probably wondering why she’d been selected for a stroll through the mostly empty parade route. Lucy turned her attention to the castle up ahead. She could hardly explain the past few hours. And she didn’t have a clue what the future held.
A cast member named Kelli had met her limo at the transit hub, escorted her onto the monorail, and then walked her straight into the Magic Kingdom. Kelli wore a khaki uniform and a smile designed to disarm everyone from a furious father of three who didn’t understand the fast pass system to a child who’d lost his precious ice cream cone.
“This way,” Kelli called. She marched down the empty street. “The parade is still a few minutes out.”
Lucy nodded. She’d walked this path in a ball gown. She’d ridden the same floats that would soon fill the street, waving and smiling for the crowd.
I loved every minute.
But walking the road while wearing a short-sleeve pink sundress that highlighted her long legs? Lucy had been more comfortable in the petticoats and corset. The families lining the street wanted to see magic brought to life.
Me too, she thought.
She tightened her grip on the note and rushed to catch up with her escort. Jared had gone to a lot of trouble for this surprise. A limo. A space at the castle to watch the parade. Of course, he had the resources. But still, her hope soared with each step.
He’d brought her to a place that defied logic. Cinderella’s castle stood on what was once swampland. Now millions of people walked these streets every year. They traveled from all over the world to see this place and witness the magic for themselves.
Kelli stopped at a roped-off area leading to the stage in front of the castle. “This way, Ms. Linden.”
Lucy followed her guide under the rope. And there, standing by the steps to the castle, stood her prince. Jared had traded the jeans and polo he’d worn to their disastrous coffee date for a crisp gray suit with a white button-down shirt. He’d skipped a tie, but she suspected he was roasting under the midafternoon sun. Still, he looked liked a modern-day prince.
She walked over to him. With each step, her heart beat a little faster. She willed it to slow down. She needed to think. If she let the magic weave a spell around her, she’d fall for the picture-perfect tableau.
But the fantasy might fade when he returns to New York, she thought.
Music filled the open-air space, pumped in through the speakers mounted on lampposts. To her right, the parade filled the bridge leading to Fantasyland and the castle. She stepped closer to Jared. “What are you doing here, Jared? Don’t you have a very important product to launch?”