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“Spanx is not sexy,” Bella added.
“But it shows a lot of… lumps.”
“Honey, no.” Anna sighed with obvious exasperation. “Those aren’t lumps. Those are curves that most women would pay good money for—me included—and you got them naturally. Show them off!”
Sasha exhaled and turned away from the mirror. “I wish I could’ve lost more weight.”
“You don’t need to.” Anna grabbed her shoulders and made her face the mirror again. “Look at you. You’re gorgeous.”
“Like a film noir femme fatale,” Bella said. “Oh, wait!” She rifled through the massive makeup kit in front of her. She’d recently taken an interest in special effects, and Anna had encouraged the hobby by practically buying out the nearest Sephora. The girl had been through a lot in her young life, and even after finding a safe place to land with Zak and Anna, she’d struggled. She didn’t trust easily. She was behind in school and had trouble making friends.
Sasha remembered how that felt. Whenever she looked at Bella, she saw an echo of her teenage self—the whole reason for her meticulous plan. Did Bella have a checklist, too? Or was she normal?
Bella held up a tube of dark red, almost black, lipstick. “You have to wear this.”
No, it was too bold. Too dark. With her extremely fair skin and dark hair, the lipstick would probably make her look all pale and washed out like Wednesday Addams—a taunt she’d endured throughout high school—but Bella looked so hopeful holding it out, she couldn’t say no. She dutifully applied it. The color was matte and made her lips look somehow bigger, and… okay, Bella was right. It did bring a glamorous old Hollywood vibe to her costume.
“Perfect,” Anna said. “Now, the hair. What do you think, Belle?”
Bella got off the bed and circled Sasha, eyeing her up and down. “We’ll lean into the femme fatale look and sweep it back, fluff it out, pin it up like in those old movies.”
Anna grinned. “With your mask on, nobody will recognize you.”
That’s the point.
As Anna and Bella worked magic with her thick mass of hair, she tried to imagine she was someone other than a shy, awkward, overweight veterinarian. She was Greta Garbo. Rita Hayworth. Ava Gardner. She was beautiful, glamorous, and mysterious. She was…
Going to be sick.
“This isn’t going to work.”
“Yes, it will. I know my brother. He won’t be able to resist you.” Anna crossed to the bottle of champagne she’d had chilling in a bucket in the corner of the bedroom and popped the cork. She returned with two bubbling glasses. “What you need is a little liquid courage.”
Sasha accepted the glass with a shaking hand and clinked it with Anna’s, then downed it in three long swallows.
“Yikes,” Bella said. “It’s gonna take a lot of liquid courage, Mom.”
“Yeah, I see that.” Anna took the empty glass back and refilled it. “Good thing I bought two bottles.”
chapter three
The masquerade ball was held in a rented ballroom at River’s Edge Casino, and Zak had left hours ago to coordinate the set-up while Anna and Sasha got ready. Bella drove them to the casino since they’d polished off most of the champagne before ever leaving the house.
Sasha’s head felt floaty, as bubbly as the champagne, and she couldn’t stop smiling. Her cheeks were probably flushed—they always got red when she drank—but at least she had the lacy Venetian mask to hide that.
“Be good,” Bella said as she dropped them off at the casino’s entrance.
“I’m supposed to be telling you that,” Anna said.
“But I didn’t pregame with an entire bottle of champagne, and I’m spending my night watching Disney movies with Poppy and Grandma Paksima. So I’m telling you to be good.”
Anna laughed and leaned back into the car to kiss Bella’s forehead. “Give that to Poppy.” She added a second kiss. “And that’s for you. Let me know when you get to your grandparents’ house.”
“I will. Bye, Mom. Love you!”
“Love you, too.” Anna stepped back and exhaled long and slow as she watched the car until it had turned out of the parking lot. Tears brimmed in her eyes. “Oh, no. Oh, shit. I can’t cry. I’ll ruin the fabulous job Bella did on my makeup.”
Sasha hooked her arm and leaned into her side, offering support. “Is that the first time she’s said she loves you?”
