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“But seriously, Rory, we should actually go to Clancy’s for drinks and see if we run into him again! Even if you aren’t curious if he’s really single, I’m curious after this whole story you’ve told me. Not for myself, of course. For you.”
    “I really don’t want to,” I said. “Even if he is single, he still lied to me about who he was and made a fool out of me. I don’t want to go near that place ever again after being humiliated there like that. The way everyone was staring at me was the worst. Hell, I’m not even going to go near the Crown Hotel ever again, just in case!”
    Just as I said that, my Mom came breezing through the door, apparently having just returned from her short getaway. “Did I hear someone say something about the Crown Hotel? We’re having dinner there tonight with James, so get dressed in something fancy!”
    Crap. In my haste to denounce the Crown and all of its associated restaurants and bars, I’d forgotten that Mom’s current squeeze owned the whole joint.
    “Gotta go,” I muttered to Dana. “Talk soon.”
    With that, I turned to my mother. “Hi, Mom. How was your trip? And sorry, what did you say about dinner?” I asked, silently praying that I’d misheard her. Maybe she’d said that only she was having dinner at the Crown tonight.
    Of course, I had no such luck.
    “Dinner tonight, at the Balmoral restaurant at James’ hotel. We decided to have a special meal, and you’re both invited.”
    Ugh. The Balmoral was practically right next to Clancy’s.
    My grandmother smiled at Mom. “That’s lovely, Anna. I’ll have to wear my special pearls, and Aurora can wear that pretty black and white dress she has.”
    I forced a smile and nodded. I really didn’t want to return to the scene of the crime that was my date the other night, but I guess I didn’t have much of a choice if Mom had already organized it. “What’s the occasion?” I asked through gritted teeth.
    Mom smiled enigmatically. “Oh, you know…just a little thing to celebrate our love.”
    I raised an eyebrow. My mother always smiled like that when she was hiding something. Last time I’d seen her with that expression on her face in regards to a man was about two and a half years ago when I’d asked her why I’d seen her with my high school math teacher one day when I was leaving class. She’d been dating him, of course, but she’d just given me that same silly smile and told me they’d been discussing my grade for the semester. Sure, Mommy dearest.
    A variety of scenarios played out in my head as I wondered what tonight’s dinner was going to entail. Maybe James had made some big business deal which he wanted to celebrate with us? Or maybe he was going to ask my Mom to marry him, and Mom already suspected? That would certainly explain her smile. It would also be a real fairytale ending for her, seeing as we’d never had a lot of money. James was mega-loaded, so if he was proposing, then that’d be great for the family.
    Not that it was all about money, of course—I just thought it’d be good because Mom wouldn’t have to work her low-paying reception job anymore, and she’d have way more time to spend with Grandma…and me, when I wasn’t at my own job.
    I bit my lower lip as I considered the possibility. I’d only met James on two occasions, and he seemed nice enough, if not a bit of a workaholic judging by the way he’d dashed off to make dozens of phone calls both times. Then again, owning an entire hotel took a lot of work, so I guess that wasn’t surprising. If he was planning on proposing to Mom, then I’d be happy with it overall.
    Look at me, getting all ahead of myself. For all I knew, the dinner was for something else entirely. Brushing the thought of a new stepfather aside, I quickly finished folding a shirt and then excused myself from the room to try and find my black and white dress. It was the same dress I’d worn to my failed date the other night, but it was the