“Voilà,” she said, and I turned to the mirror. The dress looked exactly the same, but she’d magically provided me with what felt like several inches of breathing room.

“I love you,” I said. And in that moment, I really truly meant it. Or maybe it was just the sudden flood of oxygen to my brain.

Layne laughed again. “Okay, well, forget about you making my night. I think you just made my year.” Layne’s phone, sitting on the counter, buzzed, and she leaned toward it, reading the text that flashed on the screen. “My manager is wondering where I am. I better go.”

“Thank you, Layne, seriously. It was so nice meeting you.”

“You too. Enjoy the rest of the night, okay?”

I gave an exaggerated eye roll and we both laughed again. This one went all the way through my body. “Hey, Layne. Be careful about leaving your drink unattended at the after-party. I’ve heard…stories.”

Her brows dipped, but she smiled. “Always good advice. Bye, Nova.”

Layne breezed out of the room, her emerald green dress flowing behind her, and I turned back to the mirror, simply enjoying the act of breathing for a few moments. My stomach growled. Maybe I still had time to eat a few bites of dinner.

I stared into my own eyes, thinking about how absolutely wrong the rumor mill had been about Layne. She hadn’t plotted to steal my fashion thunder. She hadn’t plotted anything. She’d given a budding designer a gift by wearing her dress to a red-carpet premiere. And so had I, though unwittingly. It’d come from last-minute desperation, not from generosity. Maybe I’d deserved to feel like a cased sausage for the first part of the night.

Be better, Emily. My mom always said that to me when I made a bad choice as a kid. Which was often. I’d judged Layne unfairly. I’d have liked to think I’d stop my assistant from actually spiking Layne’s drink had I witnessed such a thing, but…would I? Or would I look the other way and pretend not to notice? Would I have considered it fair and square for what I’d been told Layne had done to publicly humiliate me? Be better, Emily.

Yes, I’d judged Layne, and earlier… I’d judged Tuck. I had more reason for that. After all, the things he’d done weren’t just rumor. He’d committed a crime. He’d served time. He was a felon.

But you did know him once, before everything fell apart. Before he hurt you and everyone around him.