Chapter 202
Nicole arrived not too long after Zenon left.
She stepped out of her car with sunglasses on and car keys in one hand, "Call me a fairy godmother."
Nicole had dyed her hair pink since the last time I saw her.
I remembered the day she came to my house to tell me about Winnifred. I was suspicious. I wasn't used to girls being nice but now, Charlotte and Nicole were helping me choose a new years' outfit and Cynthia has been so supportive...
Maybe for the first time I was really seeing what it was like to have girl friends.
"This means a lot, thank you," I told her, "You don't really know me, so I really appreciate this."
She dismissed my comment with a wave, "You don't know this, Candace, but I practically owe Zenon and Charlotte my life. They're family, so you dating Zenon brings you into the inner circle."
Nicole flung open the back seat of her car and I stared inside, where stacks of clothes were piled onto each other. They were covered in gray garment bags, zipped up to the top with hangers sticking out.
"Not to mention, Nicole's closet is the size of this house," Charlotte added, heaving a pile of clothes out of the car, "She won't even notice these are gone. And you're going to need our help. Oma and Bianca treat every holiday like a runway."
Nicole handed me an armful of clothes as well and we traipsed into the house to lay them all out on the living room floor.
She explained, "Now I brought over a few different styles. This is a fun, playful white dress that has a Coachella vibe..." she waved an outfit in front of me, before casting it aside in favor of another, "here's a sexy black number that says I'm girly, but not too girly and yet sophisticated.... oh, and this one is the cutest red dress that'll bounce a bit when you move, perfect for dancing."
"Now I can't say I like your style Candace," Nicole said, looking me up and down, "But when we're done here, the only sound you'll hear is Zenon's jaw dropping to the floor."
"Ew, that's my brother you're talking about," Charlotte cringed.
Nicole said, "He's hot, get over it."
~Several days later~
3 AM
I couldn't sleep. My ears were buzzing from excitement and every time I was about to sleep, I sat up straight to stare at the luggage on my bedroom floor.
I was ready for Dubai. I couldn't believe I was saying this, but I was going to Dubai. This was a dream come true. I was grateful to Bryce, to Zenon, to Axel, to Charlotte, to Nicole, to Cynthia.
My heart was almost exploding from happiness. I had friends and a wonderful boyfriend. I'm so glad Zenon couldn't see me right now because I was too cringeworthy for my own good.
4 AM
The giddiness hadn't subsided. I crept over to my window and peered through the curtains to see if the sun was coming out.
It was still dark and cold. In 24 hours, I would be in a warm desert environment. I thought about how Axel had described Dubai while pretending to be Cynthia's dad. The Swedish-German-Italian Hans Magnus the senior, sans moustache.
I texted Zenon: Awake?
5 AM
I headed downstairs, seeing a light on in the living room. The floorboards creaked as I took each step. I crouched lower to see who was down there. At 5AM, I didn't expect that anyone was up.
"Mom?" I asked, seeing the shape of my mom, wrapped in a black coat, "Are you OK?"
She looked at me with tired eyes, seeing past me. "Hi Heidi."
"It's Candace, actually. Why are you wearing a coat inside?"
"I'm cold," she answered.
Her laptop was open, and papers cluttered the dining room table. I saw four empty mugs.
"Have you been up all night?" I asked her, "It's 5AM."
"Is that right?" she sighed, running her hands through her hair, "I've been working. Having two teenage kids, a full-time job and some minute semblance of a dating life makes it hard to compete with the Stepford men of my workplace."
"The what?" I asked, not used to her speaking like this to me.
"Stepford. You know, those men who get to have it all. The promotions, the nights out with the boys, the family life because their wives are at home raising their kids," she sighed, picking up her heels and throwing them into the shoe cupboard.
"You got a promotion recently though," I said encouragingly. I set the glass of water onto the dining room table for her, making sure it was far from the computer.
She was singlehandedly bringing more financial stability into this home. Emotional stability, not so much.
"I did because I poured my sweat, blood and tears into it," she answered, gulping down the glass of water, "And now it's the holidays and what have I got to show for it?"
Dad left us around the holidays. I don't remember the exact day, but I remember that the garden gnomes outside were still wrapped in faerie lights.
I stopped wrapping gnomey in snowflake faeries lights after my dad left. We haven't really been festive since.
"Who's basting my turkey, huh?" she snapped, shutting her laptop.
The glow of the screen disappeared and left the living room a little bit darker.
"Turkey's not all it's cracked up to be," I said.
"What does that even mean? You're still a kid, what do you know?" she asked me, "You're dating a boy who is going to dump you the minute he finds something better. You don't know what Stepford is but you're dating one of them. His whole family is wrapped up in this fake ideal of perfect. Life is not perfect and it's not fair and it's people like us who bear that burden."