She’d decided on a romantic dinner and had drawn up a list of everything she needed to do to make the evening perfect. It had nineteen points on it, and she only had two left to cross out.

She’d spent most of the afternoon in the kitchen. She had duck roasting in the oven, which she was serving with Seb’s favorite sauce. The table was laid with candles and silverware that she only used when she had guests.

Now there was only herself to think about.

She studied herself in the mirror, then flopped onto the bed, defeated.

She looked—ordinary. Boring. Wasn’t she always telling Alix to stop wearing black? She could have gone straight from dinner to a funeral without needing to change.

This wasn’t going to make Seb think about the woman he’d danced with that night.

She needed something sparkly. Sexy. She needed...

“Damn it.” She stood up, pulled the dress off and rifled through her clothes again, this time knowing exactly what she was going to wear. Why hadn’t she thought of it sooner? Probably because the dress in question was tucked away, along with a bunch of others she’d worn when she was single and living in London. They were of no use to her in her current life so she’d all but forgotten them.

Until now.

There it was: a shimmer of peacock blue. She pulled the dress out and felt a wave of nostalgia. She’d found the dress in a little boutique tucked away in a backstreet in Knightsbridge. Although she’d been drawn to the color, she’d almost put the dress back on the rack. It was far too sexy and revealing, and not at all the type of dress she usually wore, but she’d been shopping with Alix who had insisted she try it and then that she buy it.

Despite her reservations, Christy had fallen in love with the colors. The blended blues and greens of the dress made her think of Holly’s picture of the aurora, and she felt a pang as she thought about her daughter. She’d spoken to her that morning, and Holly had been so breathless with excitement, Christy had struggled to understand her. She’d caught the words snow and dogs before Holly had sprinted off to have more fun, leaving Christy to talk to Alix.

It had been a short conversation, mostly because Christy had no intention of discussing what was currently happening in her life. How could she after what had happened?

Still, part of her longed to snuggle up on the sofa and talk the whole thing through with her friend. She and Alix had always sorted everything out together. School. Friends. Clothes. College. Work. Boys. Sex. Family. Home. There wasn’t a subject they hadn’t dissected in their long and special friendship, and it was ironic, and horribly tough, that this—without a doubt, the hardest thing she’d ever had to handle—she didn’t feel able to share with her friend. Not only would it have been disloyal to Seb, but Alix, she knew, was incapable of being objective.