AllFreeNovel
Share Us
After a long drink, Katie put on a bright smile and said, "Ok guys, what other problem should we tackle in my complete disaster of a life? Oh god, I’m such a terrible friend. All I do is talk about myself."
"Honey, we are made for helping friends through drama. We thrive on it, okay?" Ellis said, reassuring her with a quick kiss to her temple. "So on that note, I do have an idea about what you can do about this sleazy TV show at least. You are in the perfect position to sabotage. We’ll pick the worst girls of the bunch, ugly girls with bad weaves and too much makeup. Stupid girls who don’t know how to add simple numbers and stuff."
Katie snorted. "Oh right, I’m sure Lori won’t notice; those types of details tend to float right past her. That sounds exactly like the way to get me that liaison position with the television station."
Alex backed her up. "Yeah, babe, if she’s going to commit career suicide, she may as well have done it while fucking Landon Ryan."
"Right?!" Katie agreed. "Besides, even if I wanted to sabotage, it would be impossible. Every one of those girls is perfect. One is literally a supermodel-slash-astrophysicist. Is that even a thing?"
Ellis switched gears. "Ok, plan B then: We make sure you look like a goddess at the banquet tomorrow. Show mister baseball superstar what he’s missing. You’ll wear something fabulous from your closet,I will kill it on your makeup, and Alex grew up with three sisters so he is a god with hair."
"I’m going to be at Lori’s beck and call all night, so what I wear is irrelevant."
Ellis raised an eyebrow. "Irrelevant, huh? So you’d rather Landon be staring at Layla Lamar all night instead of you?"
The thought made her ill, but she said, "He’s going to be looking at her either way. I can’t compete with that."
"At least make him sweat a little for lying about Layla and for agreeing to do that skanky TV show while he was still sleeping with you."
Katie snuck a look at Alex for his opinion.
He shrugged. "Ellisisreally good at makeup. And I know just the hairstyle for your cheekbones."
Ellis pumped his fist in victory. "Hell, we’ll kill two birds—you‘ll look so hot at the banquet we can find you a new man. Someone even better for you than Landon Ryan."
"Whoa, whoa, let’s not even go there," Katie said, exhausted at just the thought.
"Yeah babe, won’t most of the eligible men at the banquet be other ball players?" Alex reminded him.
As they continued to banter, Katie swallowed back a gigantic ball of regret. Find someone better for her than Landon Ryan? How in the world could such a person even exist?
chapter 33
Katie had to give Anjali credit, the POP! ART idea was a pretty damn cool one. The ballroom looked super chic decked out in hot pink and turquoise with a black and white checkered dance floor. The selfie stations created a surreal Alice in Wonderland vibe. One corner of the room had hundreds of fat pink raindrops and purple umbrellas suspended from the sky. Another resembled a field of gigantic sunflowers. One artist had worked with eight thousand live tulips to spell out the words PEACE, HOPE, and LOVE, with the P and Os as a peace sign, yin yang, and heart respectively. Guests were already lined up to get their shots for social media.
The Stella + Row player portraits were set up for the live auction and were nothing short of stunning. Stella was there of course, spilling out of her tight dress, red hair laced with jewels. Her husband didn’t attend but her co-artist, Rowan, was on her arm, a cute brunette with a pixie cut and the tiniest waist Katie had ever seen.
Katie stayed far, far from that group and checked out the silent auction table instead. Anjali had all of the children’s artwork professionally matted and framed and some were actually pretty comparable to the high-priced works Katie had seen in modern galleries. She sat down a painting of squiggly neon green shapes that already had a two thousand dollar bid just as Ellis sidled up next to her, full of animated energy.
"OMGeee Kat…" he teased, fingertips dancing together.
"What?"
"Landon Ryan is totally in love with you! I know you said he was, but we had our doubts."
"We?"
"Alex and I, we thought maybe you were a little delusional."
"Oh thanks a lot!"
"But it’s okay, darlin, because you are so not delusional. You walked into the room and that boy looked like a truck hit him."
Katie rolled her eyes, but pursed her lips to tuck back a tiny smile. "If he took any notice of me, it’s only because you and Alex did such an amazing job making me look, well, better than me. It probably just took him a second to recognize me."
The two men did know what they were doing when it came to styling. Ellis did her makeup with a decidedly sixties vibe: black eyeliner, pale eyeshadow, and lashes more voluminous than she knew possible. She almost always wore her hair up at work, but Alex gave her a salon-worthy cascade of shiny waves that hung loosely around her shoulders and down her back.
The outfit, Katie picked out herself. A sequined cocktail dress with thin straps and a deeper V in the front than she’d ever worn to a work function. She had fallen in love with the ombré design when she’d bought it years ago and had only worn it once to a New Year’s Eve party. The deep rose color on top faded into sparkly gold at the bottom, with the hem reaching just past mid-thigh. With hoop earrings and strappy gold heels it felt right for the theme, and she’d left home feeling confident enough to at least deal with the long night ahead.
