“You really need an estrogen-filled evening, don’t you?”
“Actually, I’m in dire need of some testosterone. But since I can’t get that, I’ll settle for a girls’ evening in.”
“Can you be at my apartment in an hour?”
“Sure.”
***
I don’t remember ever putting so much effort into preparing for a date. Stopping at the cosmetics shop next to my building, I pick up a body kit that promises to make my skin as smooth as a baby’s. I’m skeptical, but what the heck. Once I’m in the shower and rub the peeling gel on, I become a believer. The thing removes two frickin’ layers of skin. Afterward, I apply the body cream, and I’m surprised at how soft my skin really is. Next in line is nail polish. God, I feel so girly painting my nails, but I love it.
When Pippa arrives, she sports a large grin, eyeing me from head to toe. “I see you’re taking this preparation process very seriously. Let’s see what you’ve got.”
Grinning in equal measure, I lead her inside the room. She reminds me a lot of my best friend, Nadine. “So, I can’t decide between these two.” I gesture to the dresses I’ve laid on the bed.
“These are both yummy,” she comments. “From the way my brother looks at you, he’ll go berserk.”
“That’s the goal,” I confess. I was going to go for some safer choices, but I can’t resist. Riling him up makes him hotter.
“I’m always for a little black dress,” Pippa says.
“The black one it is.” I pump my fist in the air triumphantly. It’s a bandage dress I bought a few months back, and it’s the least cleavage revealing of the lot. But combined with the way it hugs my curves, it’ll have exactly the effect I want on Sebastian. He woke something deep inside me, a desire to ensure by any means that he needs me as desperately as I need him.
“Girl, you’ve got some great choices here. I’m envious.”
“All bought on sale,” I declare proudly, looking at my outfits. Growing up, I owned few pretty things. My mom made most of our clothes. In her youth, she came to New York to study fashion. Then my father happened, and then I happened, and she put her dreams aside, working every job imaginable: waitressing, cleaning, babysitting. She had an old sewing machine with which she made our clothes. They were simple and practical. Getting her a kick-ass machine was on the top of my to-buy list when I got my first job after graduating college.
She surprised me on my prom night with the most beautiful dress. She told me she’d saved the entire year to buy that fabric. It was the color of the sky when the sun is about to set. We laughed and danced as she helped me prepare, and since there was no one to take a picture of us, we took a selfie—before selfies were all the rage. We both looked radiant. I keep that picture in my living room back in New York.
My career as a sales shopper began after I started at Dirk’s consultancy. I like pretty things, but growing up the way I did, I have a healthy disgust for overpriced items.
“You’re like Alice. Both of you are lucky you have such a petite frame,” Pippa comments, snapping me back to the moment. “I can rarely find what I want in sales. Okay, we have the dress. Shoes come next. Bring out your best heels.”
Laughing, I whisk out a pair of black shoes with straps. Pippa pinches her nose. I put them back and then get out a red pair with sky-high heels.
“How about these?” I ask.
Pippa’s eyes widen, and then she bows her head, peering at the shoes. “They’re my size. I’m going to steal them.”
“Nope.”
“Borrow?”
“Maybe.”
“I’m salivating here. You have to promise you’ll lend me those.”
“Oh, fine, I will. Can’t believe we have the same shoe size, but you’re a head taller than me.”
I dress quickly and do a pirouette. Pippa nods in approval.
“Let me style your hair,” she says. “I’m a pro.”
/> “How come?”
“As the oldest sister, I was on hair duty for all the younger ones when they had any school dances, dates, proms. You can call them if you want references.”
“I trust you. Go ahead.”