I didn’t even pause to look at it.

I just shuddered to a halt at the side counter and dumped the huge bouquet of LeLane’s flowers I’d bought as well as the box of cupcakes I got from the bakery and then resumed my dash.

When I did, Joker rounded into the kitchen, saying, “Carissa, Elvira and—”

“No time, no time, no time!” I cried, waving my hand at him and not looking at him either as I sprinted right by him.

I rounded the corner from the kitchen into the living room and skidded to a dead stop on my Converse.

All my insides seized at what befell my eyes.

This being Elvira standing (in a fabulous wraparound dress and even more fabulous platform pumps) by my coffee table with my couch covered in so many bags, it was terrifying.

Except one wing of the sectional was occupied by a large black man (large as in tall and built) with a bald head and a perfectly formed goatee. He was lounging with his legs crossed casually.

I paid no heed to the black man.

“We had a budget!” I screeched.

“I know, I know, I know,” Elvira replied, lifting her hands up, palms toward me, pressing them my way repeatedly. “But, girlie, I don’t do cute. I got flummoxed. I lost it, ended up in Forever 21 and had a breakdown. It got so extreme, I had to call in Malik.”

On the word Malik she threw a hand toward the man on my couch and I looked to him.

“I’m Malik,” he said in a voice that slid over me like warm syrup. “Elvira’s man.”

I was in a panic, but still, regardless of Elvira’s exceptional style, her beautiful face, her fabulous skin, and her hairdo that I knew even without the stylist education I intended to get one day suited her absolutely perfectly, I took the precious time to be shocked at her man.

Not that she could land him.

Just that he was Hollywood handsome in the sense that I was pretty sure he was famous, because if there was anything right in this world, he simply had to be.

“Uh… hi,” I greeted shyly.

His full lips curled up, exposing white teeth.

My scalp started tingling.

“Malik can shop,” Elvira stated and I tore my eyes off her man. “He’s so good at it, I could retire. Example,” she swept her hand down her fabulous dress to flick out, indicating her more fabulous shoes, telling me Malik picked them, which said it all. “I won’t retire, because if I can’t shop, I might stop breathing, but just sayin’, he’s good at it.”

“I can see that, Elvira,” I snapped, walking to the back of the couch. “Since there are seven thousand bags in my living room!” I ended this on a yell.

“We can take back what you don’t want,” Elvira returned. “But now we got a lot to go through and you don’t got a lotta time. So, girl,” she rolled her hand at me, “get your ass over here.”

I got my behind over there, and I did it by putting a hand to the back of the couch and leaping over it, which knocked five bags to the floor.

Elvira’s eyebrows shot up. I heard deep laughter that was like vocal silk, along with a rough biker chuckle that was almost the best sound in the world (second only to Travis’s giggle).

I ignored all that and started dumping stuff out of bags.

Elvira joined me and we were laying out outfits (embarrassingly with matching undies but I couldn’t give in to the embarrassment of doing this in front of Malik, or the possibility he’d picked some of them for me, I had to focus) when I heard Joker say, “Mrs. Heely, gotta let you know that we’re probably gonna be a little late.”

At that, my head snapped to the side, my vision blurred with livid horror and I screeched, “Don’t tell her that! She’s gonna think I’m rude! You’re never late to a dinner party, even if it’s family! We’ll be on time if it kills me!”

Joker grinned at me and kept on, “Carrie just got off work and she’s pickin’ an outfit.”

I felt my eyes go huge as my heart stopped.

I thought I might black out as Elvira muttered, “Men. No clue.” Then I felt her hand on my arm and her lips at my ear. “Focus.”

I nodded repeatedly. “Right, yes, focus. Right.”

In no time (since half the stuff only Elvira could pull off, some of it only Lanie could pull off, a few things only Tyra could pull off, and only three outfits I could pull off) we’d narrowed it down.

They were draped on my couch and I was bouncing foot to foot.

“What do you think?” I asked.

“I like them all. They’re perfect for you. I can’t make a decision. Shit!” Elvira answered, my panic clearly settling in on her.

“What happened to, ‘I’m not nervous. I give good girlfriend?’ ” Joker asked and my head (and Elvira’s) again snapped his way. “Let’s go back to that,” he finished.

“You are not helping,” Elvira informed him.

“Darlin’,” smooth came at me as a hand hit my back and I jumped, tipped my head back and caught Malik’s warm espresso eyes. “Pink,” he said softly.

I looked down and suddenly it was like a beacon.

It was absolutely the pink.

I bent, snatched it up (filmy pink dress with v-neck, frilly ruffles adorning it, the same for the short sleeves, with a modest but becoming hem that would hit several inches above my knees, plus undies, and cream platform wedge espadrilles that had a glittery gold threaded through the fabric and ribbons that wound around and tied at the ankles).

I pushed through Elvira and Malik, dashing around the couch, shouting, “Thank you!” and I kept running down the hall, yelling, “I owe you!”

Then I ran into my room and slammed the door.

* * *

I sat in Joker’s truck, pulling at the hem of my skirt, thinking it was modest when I was standing, not so much when I was sitting down, thus fretting about it.

“Butterfly, relax. They aren’t gonna eat you.”

I looked to the side to see Joker, who I had not noted during my earlier crisis had shaved.

“You look sweet,” he went on.

“Thanks,” I mumbled, pulling at my hem.

He glanced at me and back to the road before he asked, “What changed from yesterday’s calm to today’s mega-freak?”

“Sharon asked me what I was gonna wear,” I answered.

“That’s all it takes?”

“That and the realization that what I wear is not only a reflection on me, but on you. And that I gave good girlfriend to Aaron’s parents likely because deep down inside, I would hope, I’m not a total imbecile and I knew somewhere buried there that Aaron was a total jerk. So I probably really didn’t care what they thought of me because, deep down inside, I had some notion they would not be in my life for long. Alas, I didn’t figure this out before I wasted years on him and gave him a child. Fortunately for me, I get that child too. But now, with you, these people, what they mean to you and what they gave to you, they matter. What they think of me and what they think of you choosing me is important. Hence… mega-freak.”