Chasing Happiness by Raine English Page B

what she’s going to do that has me worried.”
    “It’s pretty obvious that you’ve never really liked Dan.”
    Katie shrugged. “I don’t dislike him. I just don’t trust him.” Zoe wasn’t as experienced with men as Katie and Ariana. There was an innocence about her that made Katie’s nurturing side take over and want to protect her. Zoe was the first person Katie had met when she moved to Maine her sophomore year in high school. It had been an awkward time for her. She hadn’t quite come to terms yet with her weight, and being the new girl in school could have been disastrous if Zoe hadn’t befriended her. She made sure Katie fit right in with her circle of friends, and that was something she’d be forever grateful for.
    It was right around that time that Katie discovered her knack for design. She could take two pieces of clothing that no one would ever think should go together, and somehow make them work. Because of that unique ability, she’d thought she’d go into fashion design, but fate had other plans for her.
    One day during senior year in Mrs. Small’s art class, they had a guest artist—a floral designer. She taught the class the basics of arrangements, and it was that day that Zoe and Katie fell in love with flowers. They were invited to see the woman’s shop and jumped at the opportunity to spend more time with such a fabulous artist. The next day, they raced over there and spent hours in the shop with the woman and her daughter. Ariana was the most beautiful thing Katie had ever seen. With her long, silky blonde hair, blue-gray eyes, and porcelain skin, Katie expected her to be conceited, but Ariana was far from it. The girls spent many hours in Mrs. Black’s shop learning the tricks of the trade and were sure that during the summer, they’d work for her. However, shortly before graduation, Ariana’s parents divorced, and the shop wound up being sold as part of the settlement. Mrs. Black moved to New York City to be with her family. Thankfully, Ariana decided to stay with her father and attend Lakewood community college, along with Zoe and Katie, just as they’d planned. It was after that when Ariana decided she needed a change and decided to go to New York to spend some time with her mom.
    “I don’t know, Katie. You might be wrong about Dan,” Ariana said, interrupting her thoughts. “Besides, how could he not love Zoe? She’s incredible.”
    “I hope you’re right, because if he hurts her in any way, he’ll—”
    “Have us to contend with,” Ariana said, finishing Katie’s sentence.
    “Exactly. Now we’d better get to work. There’s lots to do before tonight’s party, and I don’t want anything to go wrong.”
    Ariana squeezed her arm. “You worry too much. Everything’s going to be fine. We’ve been planning this event for weeks.”
    For the second time that day, Katie hoped Ariana was right. However, she couldn’t shake that nagging feeling in the pit of her stomach that was always there when something bad was about to happen.
     
    ****
     
    Ariana pulled her long hair back into a high ponytail, wrapping a section of hair around the elastic and securing it with a bobby pin, then she finished her makeup with two coats of black mascara and an iridescent shell-pink lipstick. While studying her reflection in the full-length mirror, she smoothed a wrinkle from the front of her favorite black cocktail dress, and said to her orange-and-white short-haired cat, “What do you think? Good enough?”
    The only answer she got from Tabby came in the form of a long meow. “A lot of help you are.” As she headed for the kitchen to feed the cat, loneliness stabbed at her heart. She hadn’t been on a date in ages, and her birthday was in eight months. Looked like she’d break the pact she’d made with Zoe and Katie when they were teenagers to be married by twenty-five. It was a silly thing to have agreed to anyway. You couldn’t predict when you’d meet the right person and