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Bree had already laid out more make-up than I had ever seen anywhere in my life, and as she looked over it all, I laughed again. “You’re not planning on using all of this though, right?”
“No. But I will be trying a lot of it out on you.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Okay. Well, off you go then!”
Bree rubbed her hands together with glee then handed me a primer. She’d already made me remove the minimal make-up I’d had on. “This stuff costs a freaking fortune, but it’s better than Photoshop for blurring out flaws. Not that you actually have any.”
I began rubbing the primer into my face. “It feels really good. I might need to invest in some of this myself.”
Bree hopped up from her seat and wandered around the work station to one of the drawers set into the shelving. She pulled out another tube of primer and placed it beside me before sitting down again. “Have this one. It’s my new best friend, Leah. I swear to God, I don’t know how I’ve lived without it all my life.”
“Thank you. I’ll pay you when we’re done.”
She waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. “Please, just take it. I got a bunch of freebies from work.”
I paused rubbing the primer into my cheeks and smiled at Bree. She had always been the ray of sunshine in my life, but her new job and new pregnancy had her glowing in a way I’d never seen before. Everything about her beamed happiness and I couldn’t help but be warmed by it. She deserved every moment of this newfound joy.
“What?” Bree shifted her eyes from side to side. “What are you looking at?”
“You!” I laughed. “You just… you seem so happy right now. I know you had a rough year, but since you took this job you’ve just seemed more and more…”
“Settled?” I nodded, and she smiled. “That’s how I feel. It’s like I went through my whole life with Jude being viewed as some gold-digging ditz. And until you came to L.A, hardly anyone gave me the time of day. And even then, something was always missing.” She shrugged in a self-deprecating way. “I’ve still got a lot to learn about what I do but I feel calmer now. Like I don’t have anything to prove to anyone, and there’s a whole world of options for me. I love the job I have now, but people are already recommending me for new positions and while I don’t want to make any moves just yet, not until after the baby’s born, I love knowing there’s a whole lot more for me to achieve.”
Pride swelled inside me, and, since I’d finished priming, I set the tube on the side and gave her a hug.
“What was that for?” She laughed as she hugged me back.
“I’m just so excited for you. You have so many good things happening for you.”
As I sat back in my seat, Bree stood and cast her eyes over the foundation shades on the table before looking back at me. “I can’t believe it, Leah.” She giggled and her eyes sparkled. “I’m so lucky to have all of this, and the chance to actually have my dreams come true.”
I shook my head. “It’s not all luck. At least, not the career stuff. You’ve worked hard and you’ve earned it.”
“I know. And that’s all I ever wanted. To do something. To make a contribution to the world. And sure, I know it’s just make-up and I’m not about to change anyone’s life or find a cure for some awful disease, but I’m doing something. And that’s what matters to me.”
“You just wait.” I chuckled. “Wait until the baby comes along, and going back to work will seem like the toughest thing ever.”
Just because I hadn’t leapt over that hurdle yet, didn’t mean I couldn’t imagine how tough it would be. I got a little taster every time I left Jessica with someone else. It’s never easy handing over such a large part of your heart.
“I know,” Bree said as she picked up a foundation brush and opened up the foundation she’d established was the correct shade for me. “I’m kinda dreading that part. I’d like the kind of job where I could take the baby with me, but if my goal is movie sets, I can’t see that happening. I’ll just have to get used to it, I guess.”
“Or… I’ll just open up a nursery at my place where I take care of the next generation of Westberg kids.”
Bree laughed. “That could work! And, if I have a boy, he could end up being Jessica’s first boyfriend!”
The image made me smile. If my daughter was anything like me, though, she’d be in to older guys, not younger. But… actually, I’d have preferred she wasn’t so much like me when it came to dating. She sure as hell wouldn’t encounter the same boredom issues I’d faced when growing up. No matter where life took us, I’d make sure she didn’t grow up isolated in a tiny village. I wanted her to have the kind of childhood that didn’t leave her feeling like she was missing out on anything.
“You never know,” I said. “All we need now is for Freya and Miguel to have a kid and we’ll all be sitting around talking about sleepless nights and the best way to handle tantrums!”
As Bree began applying my foundation, she said, “Oh. My. God. Their kids would be stunning. But…” she paused. “Do you think that’ll happen? You think they’re together forever?”
“You know, if you’d asked me a few months ago, I wouldn’t have been completely sure. But the more they’re together, the more I think they’ll make it. What do you think?”
“I think they’re great together. But there’s always a part of me that wonders if… is Miguel always going to be second best to Will? I mean, does she love Miguel the way she loved Will?”
“I don’t think she’ll ever love anyone the way she loved Will. What they had was so rare. Everything about them was right. They had the best friendship, and the most honest kind of love. I don’t think she’ll feel that way about anyone again because nobody else could be as perfect for her as Will was.”
Freya and I didn’t talk about Will as much as we used to. It wasn’t that she’d forgotten him, or that she loved him any less now he was gone… because that kind of love? It never stops. But she had learned how to move on
