reoccupied with her impending departure for Palm Beach, Sloan didn't notice Jess's patrol car behind her until she was a mile from home and he flipped on his light bar. Startled by the flashing lights behind her, she glanced in her rearview mirror and saw him give her a thumbs-up. "Have a good vacation—" he called over his loudspeaker.

Sara's car was parked behind Kimberly's when Sloan pulled into her driveway, and Paul Richardson was there, too, rearranging luggage in the trunk of a bright blue coupe he'd probably rented for their trip. Sloan hadn't seen him in the two weeks since she'd agreed to go to Palm Beach, but he'd spent an extra few hours with her on Presidents' Day so he could have lunch with Sloan and her mother. He'd had a much easier time convincing Kimberly at lunch that he was romantically interested in Sloan than he was having now, trying to get the luggage into the car, Sloan noted. He finally gave up, pulled one of his suitcases out of the trunk, and opened the car door instead. "Do you need help?" she offered as he tried to shove his bulky suitcase behind the driver's seat and onto the car's backseat.

"No, I need a U-Haul," he said with a wry smile.

"I'll be ready to go in five minutes," Sloan promised. Since she'd packed only two medium-size suitcases that she'd borrowed from Sara, she assumed that either the car's trunk was very small or Agent Richardson's luggage was very large, but in any case, she didn't want to discuss suitcases or their contents. As soon as her mother and Sara had realized Sloan was going to Palm Beach, they'd started talking about clothing, and they'd kept right at it until Sloan couldn't bear another word on the subject.

She'd never liked to spend money on clothes, and unlike her mother and her best friend, Sloan did not regard this trip as a reason to change her spending habits or her "image." Of course, they didn't realize she was going to Palm Beach to spy on her father, so they both had big dreams for the trip, and to Sloan's frustrated amusement, their dreams seemed to hinge on what Sloan would be wearing when the right moment presented itself. "Carter will be dazzled," Kimberly happily predicted the day Sloan told her of her impending trip, "when he sees you in that black beaded cocktail dress in Faylene's window. I'm going to buy it for you."

Sara's hopes for Sloan were of a different kind: "I can see you now at the Palm Beach Polo Club," Sara said dreamily, "wearing my red linen sheath when 'Mr. Perfect' walks in… handsome, rich, exciting…"

"Stop it, both of you," Sloan had interrupted firmly. "Mom, don't you dare spend one dollar on anything for me. If you do, I'll return whatever it is without wearing it. Sara, I appreciate your offer, but I refuse to play dress-up to impress Carter Reynolds."

"Okay, but what about impressing 'Mr. Perfect?"

"He sounded perfect for you, not me," Sloan pointed out with an affectionate smile. "Besides, I'm taking Paul with me, remember?"

"Yes, but you're not engaged to him, so there's no harm in keeping your options open, and my red sheath is just perfect. It's 'flirty' but not 'forward'—"

"Please, don't start—" Sloan pleaded, covering her ears in her desperation to stop Sara from launching into one of her enthusiastic fashion narratives. "I'll make you a deal. I'll agree to keep my options open if you'll leave the subject of clothing closed." She stood up to illustrate her determination to permanently end discussion of the topic and announced she was going to bed.

But the discussion didn't end there; it raged on day after day, hour after hour, in her presence and in her absence. In fact, Kimberly and Sara had been so persistent that as Sloan finally hugged them both good-bye, she half expected Sara to produce yet another garment bag filled with more of her own clothes for Sloan to consider. Instead, they both instructed her to have a good time and waited in the doorway to see her off.

Kimberly watched Paul Richardson walk around the car and politely open the passenger door for Sloan. "She's going to look gorgeous in that black beaded cocktail dress," Kim predicted happily. "She has a beautiful new wardrobe to begin a beautiful new life, a life with her father in it, and Paul Richardson in it—"

"And my red linen dress in it—" Sara added with a nervous giggle.

The car began to move away from the curb, and both women waved a cheery good-bye, their expressions innocent. "Paul was very sweet about keeping the other two suitcases out of sight," Kimberly said.

"Yes, he was," Sara agreed, but her smile wavered with uncertainty. "I'd feel a lot better if this romance of theirs didn't seem so sudden. I mean, I wish Sloan knew him better."

"I don't," Kimberly announced cheerfully to an astonished Sara. "She's always been much too serious about life and much too cautious about men. To tell you the truth, I've wished for years that she'd be more… more… impulsive!"

Tipping her head toward the departing car, Sara grinned at the woman she loved more than her own mother. "I think you've gotten your wish, Mom."