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He sighed. “Caley—“
As Caley glared daggers at him, I chuckled and quickly kissed Kipp on the lips. “You better go.” I glanced over my shoulder, eying all the strangers behind me, but somehow having them here felt good. “You’re right.” I looked to Kipp. “I need them.”
He smiled, not in his usual haughty way, but soft in relief. “I’m glad you see it that way.”
“Great. Wonderful. Everyone is happy.” Caley shoved Kipp’s arm, causing him to stumble and he glared at her, which she ignored. “Get lost.” Then her scowl turned to Gretchen and the others. “All of you, down the hill. Right now!”
Kipp rolled his eyes at her, but then winked at me and, without another word, jogged after Zach. I noticed the members of the Animus, including Gretchen, heading through the yard and approaching the hill.
A firm hand on mine had me glancing back to Caley. She all but snarled at me, “You are so damn lucky you didn’t get your dress dirty.”
I peered down, looking over the lace dress with V-neckline and thick silver ribbon around the waist, and was actually glad I didn’t ge
t it dirty either. Caley would’ve had my head or attacked me with a spot removal stick while cursing some colorful words.
Before I had a chance to agree with her, Caley jabbed a finger under my chin and examined my face. She opened her purse and then proceeded to reapply my eye makeup. After which, she used an antique diamond clip to pin up the side of my hair, lifting it off my face. “Good, the curls stayed.”
Another round of curses followed before Caley grumbled, “Honestly, you would think on important days you could tell ghosts they needed to wait.”
“I’ve learned my lesson. That only leads to disaster,” I mumbled as Caley applied a dark red color to my lips. When she finished, I rubbed my lips together. “Besides, we’ve worked the case for a couple weeks now and finally had a way to get the guy.”
Caley scoffed. “Blah. Blah. Boring police business. Blah. Blah. Blah.”
I smiled at her, understanding her point since today had been a horrible day for Mary Jane to suddenly remember where her killer had buried her. The loud talking coming over the hill reminded me of that.
After she resealed the lipstick, she dropped it in her purse, and then gave me a full once-over. “All right, back to what you looked like before you left.”
I fluffed the curls on my shoulder, having no idea what my face or hair looked like. Since my face felt plastered with makeup, I assumed Caley had gotten me into a picture perfect appearance.
She still looked so angry with a vein bulging in the middle of her forehead, so I smiled again. “Thank you, Caley.” Wrapping my arms around her, I pulled her into a hug and she softened beneath my embrace. “I couldn’t have done any of this without you.”
“No, you couldn’t have,” she said with little heat to her voice, even if we both knew it was true. Caley was great at planning. When she backed away, tears were in her eyes. “You look beautiful.” She winked. “With my assistance, of course.”
I laughed.
A sudden low whistle sounded behind me and when I turned, Max smiled from ear-to-ear, dressed in a black tuxedo. “I’m a lucky man today.”
“Wow,” I said, placing my hand on my hip. “You clean up good!”
He smirked. “Glad to know old guys can still look decent.”
I chuckled. Not that Max was that old. In fact, he was just a little younger than my father would have been. But he did look charming in his suit, considering I usually saw Max dressed down. I’d never seen him put much effort into his appearance. “Is that gel in your hair?”
He frowned, giving Caley the stink eye. “It wasn’t by choice.”
When he offered me his arm, I slid into his hold and glanced up at him. The sun beaming down warmed my skin and highlighted the gray in his hair. “Thanks for doing this, Max.”
Heady emotion filled his eyes. “Kid, it’s my pleasure.”
“Okay, sweet moment over,” Caley interjected without the snappiness to her voice, and the vein on her forehead was no longer pulsing. “You know the drill?”
I nodded, since Caley had drilled it into my head for a week proceeding today. Every day, at least five times a day.
“Great.” She drew in a deep breath, all the strain leaving her completely and I knew more existed here than an overwhelmed feeling of all the preparation and the stress that we caused from making her wait.
Caley wanted me to be happy—trying to make everything perfect—and yes, as much as my best friend could drive me to the moon, she loved me.
She closed in on me again and kissed my cheek. Then, with teary eyes and a tremble to her lips, she avoided my gaze. “Nope, can’t go there. My makeup will run if I tell you sweet things and cry. I’ll tell you tomorrow when it doesn’t matter what I look like.” With a quick peek into my eyes and with a classic Caley sassy grin, she spun on her heels and headed toward the hill through the yard.
