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But in our whole talk, not once did she mention the tiny detail that toddles her way down the internal stairs. A little girl in Princess Ana pyjamas and a cute stuffed puppy squished between her arm and chest slowly makes her way down, rubbing fat little hands over her tired eyes.
Tina’s back is turned to the stairs, so she doesn’t spot her, but I do. “Hi there, pretty girl.”
Tina spins so fast, I worry this is how her previous victims lost their eyes. “Evie!” She rushes forward and picks the little girl up. “Baby, what are you doing down here?”
“I work wif you, Mommy?”
Mommy?“That’s your daughter?” That girl must be a couple years old, at least.
Nuzzling the girl’s neck, Tina walks forward slowly. “Kit, this is Evelyn. My daughter. Evie, can you say hello to Kit?”
“Hi, Evie. It’s nice to meet you.” I hold my hand out to stroke hers, but rearing back, she hides them between her body and Tina’s. Evie stares shyly and cuddles closer to her mama. “I like your pyjamas,” I try again. “Olaf is a funny snowman.”
A tiny smile creeps up on Tina’s mini-me clone, and her eyes, blue like the ocean and identical to her mama’s, study me. Almost everything about the girl is a copy of her mom, but she has tight blonde curls to Tina’s straight. “I wike Olaf, too. And Swen, when he eats the nose…” She giggles melodiously and sets Tina’s wariness at ease.
“I’m so sorry about this, Kit. If you’ll excuse me for two minutes, I’ll be right back and we can get back to it.”
“It’s no problem, I promise. She’s very cute.”
“Yeah, I agree, she is cute.” Tina smiles and pokes her daughter’s nose. “Cutest kid I ever met.”
“Helllloooooo.”
All three of us turn toward the front of the studio, though of course, we can’t see because of the partition we walked around. “That must be my friends. I’ll get them.” I attempt to stand, but Tina pushes me down and passes the glass of champagne she poured an hour ago.
“You sit, relax. You paid good money to be primped and pampered. I’ll bring them in.”
I slump back into my chair and smile as Tina moves to the front with Evie in her arms. Tink and Izzy’s laughter turns to ‘awws’when they get a load of the cute toddler. I lean forward in my chair and study my finished makeup.
She made my already big eyes bigger, but not in a weird way. She made them sexy. My lips are bright red and glisten in the fluorescent lights above. My hair hangs low and messy, like I was someone’s ol’ lady on a motorcycle and I’m going for the sex hair look.
It’s perfect.
The three women and Evie re-enter the room noisily, though Evie clings to Iz like a baby monkey, her arms wrapped around Iz’s neck and her little legs trying to hook around her back.
I lift my eyebrows in question. “Looks like Evie made a new friend.”
Tink rolls her eyes in mock anger. “Nugget didn’t want me, even after I promised candy and a creepy van.”
Izzy presses her nose to Evie’s tight curls and closes her eyes in bliss. “I think she likes me. Best. Hug. Ever.”
“I’m so sorry.” Tina fusses nervously. “I just have to run upstairs for two minutes. I swear I’ll be fast, and then we can get back to work. Evie, honey, come to Mommy for a sec.”
“I stay here, Mommy?” Evie pops her bottom lip adorably. Oh man, she knows how to work her audience. “Not time for bed yet. I work wif you?”
“Evie, baby, no. I can’t leave you down here. We’ll be back in a minute though, I promise, and you can draw for a little while–”
“I don’t mind holding her,” Iz says.
Tina’s face pales as though we pulled a gun on her. “Oh, no, I couldn’t…”
“We won’t move a step, you have my word. I don’t mind holding her while you run upstairs, and I promise I won’t run off with her.”
At the pain in Tina’s eyes, I’m tempted to grab Evie and throw her back to her mom. Izzy’s just trying to be kind – and mooch a hug – but just the angst and grief in Tina’s eyes is enough to make my stomach cramp.
“I mean…” She studies our group for a full minute. Stopping on me, she swallows heavily. “Please don’t move. Not a step. Don’t try to be funny and pretend to hide. You know what,” she holds her arms out, “no, it’s fine.”
“I promise not to move a single step,” Iz assures her. She, literally, will not move a step.
