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“A Fourth of July party. I want to show him that I can clean up nice.”
“Well, if you’re talking about who I think you’re talking about,” Natalie turned and winked at her phone, “it shouldn’t be too hard to grab his attention.”
“I don’t know. He’s so out of my league.”
“Um, other way around, sister.”
“That’s sweet, but look at me!” Frankie gestured to the mirror, where the green jelly was starting to dry and look like alligator skin. “I’m the creature from the Black Lagoon!”
“Well, obviously you’re not going to show him this look.” Natalie chuckled. “When he sees you at karaoke this week, his jaw will drop.”
Wait, what? Karaoke?Jake never came to karaoke. Frankie held up a hand to block the camera and whispered. “Who do you think we’re talking about?”
“Rico? I mean he’s a little goofy, but he’s the most eligible guy on the crew and kind of cute if you can get past the cocky—”
Frankie folded in half, shaking with laughter. Her belly ached and the thin, itchy drying mask crinkled around her eyes and her cheeks, giving her the wrinkles of a ninety-year-old. Sucking in a hard breath, she tried for words. “Nat. No. Just no. I’m not…trying to land…Rico.” The giggles kept interrupting her attempts to correct the situation.
“If not Rico, then who?” Natalie asked, crossing her arms over her chest, resting them on top of her belly bump. “Because if you try and tell me that glow in your cheeks isn’t from getting laid on the regular, I’ll call you a liar.”
No.No way was she spilling her guts in front of the entire internet.
“Will you delete this part?”
Natalie leaned over and tapped off the video. “Now spill. Who are you dating?”
“I’ve been seeing Jake.”
The eyeliner that Natalie had done on herself really highlighted the way her eyes bugged out of her head. “Wow. I mean, I know I’ve been off set for months, but wow. I did not see that coming.”
“Neither did I, but so far, so good.”
“If you’re happy, then I’m happy. Just…be careful. He can be a whole lot. That’s all I’m going to say.” Natalie hugged her from behind, careful not to touch the goo setting on her face. “So what’s this thing you’re going to?”
“He invited me to a network thing in LA this weekend. On somebody’s yacht?”
“Ooooh, the Fourth of July cruise? Swanky! Okay, so we need to glam it up a bit more than I had planned.”
Frankie grinned as Natalie turned the camera back on. She liked Nat because her brother was going to marry her. She enjoyed the snarky conversations they had shared on set. But she loved that Natalie was becoming a sister as well. Only Fi had ever talked about boys and relationships with her. And years of training behind a salon chair had likely honed Natalie’s relationship diagnostic skills to a fine point.
“I bet you’d all love to know what she just told me, but my lips are sealed! Let’s get this makeover started, shall we?”
Natalie peeled the mask off. The light tugging pulled the film off her face and left a tingly, clean feeling behind. Nice, but not worth dipping her face in guacamole on the regular.
Frankie sat back and tried to find the relaxation so many women claimed to feel being “pampered.” And failed. She did manage not to squirm in the chair, but she flinched every time Natalie touched her face with some new texture. Cold, creamy, ticklish, poky, wet, sticky, ugh. She tuned out what Natalie was saying for the audience. She would try and figure it out from the video later.
How did women do this every day?
Had she thought she’d gotten better at enduring this with the makeup Natalie did for her on set? Clearly, the makeup artist had been taking it easy on her. No way could she keep this up. Jake was so far out of her league. This attempt to fit into his life was a joke. Her confidence retreated farther and farther into her chest, leaving a hollow feeling where it had swelled before.
When Natalie switched to wedding plans and slight tweaks to the build plan, Frankie didn’t have the heart to push back. The paved platform patio and adjustable arched pergola would be great long-term additions to the property but they would also add another ten thousand to an already stretched budget. She'd figure it out though. She wanted to give them the wedding of their dreams.
After one more last spritz of god-knew-what that felt like one of the babies blew a raspberry in her face, Nat spun the chair and made her a little dizzy with her eyes squeezed shut.
“Open your eyes.”
Frankie opened her eyes and dropped her jaw almost simultaneously.
“Frankie, look at that woman in the mirror.”
