Yes, she did. She rolled her freaking eyes.
The child thought I was lame. And that just wasn’t acceptable. I was one of the most un-lame people I knew.
But really, the rolling eyes thing bespoke of a rebellious move and calmed me down more than anything else had since arriving at the Arnosta house. It was comprehendible tweenie behavior. And comprehendible behavior, I could get.
Narrowing my eyes, I smiled. Game on, brat.
“So…I overheard you and your brother talking about how all your friends are at a slumber party tonight,” I started, folding my arms over my chest in a ha-take-that manner. “And you weren’t invited.”
She wailed out a groan, telling me I was trudging on dangerous ground for bringing up such a sensitive subject.
I tsked out a sympathetic sound and sat on the chair beside her wheelchair so we could be eye-to-eye. “That’s really too bad, you know. I bet they’re having loads of fun right now, putting on makeup and doing each other’s hair, maybe having a campfire in the back yard and eating s’mores while they tell spooky ghost stories.” I shivered for effect, really rubbing it in.
But then the damndest thing happened. Miserable, fat teardrops glistened in Sarah’s eyes. When she blinked them away, my throat went dry.
Now I was the total jerk face.
Here, I’d been trying to prove I wasn’t some pathetic, pushover babysitter, and my ward had been suffering from honest-to-God heartbreak. Ashamed of myself for being so cruel, I shut up and cleared my throat.
I had to fix this. Like right now.
And suddenly, as if the genius god had visited me, I had an idea. I’ve been known to have occasional, random streaks of brilliance, sure, but this one took the cake.
“Yeah, it’s too bad,” I repeated in the same fake-compassionate voice I’d been using. “Because those girls aren’t going to have nearly as much fun as we will tonight.” Then I let out an enthusiastic cheer and surged to my feet. “Let’s get this party started.”
Sarah glanced at me with a confused wrinkle in her brows.
I sighed and rolled my own eyes. “Let’s do each other’s hair and put on makeup. I swear, I have an entire cosmetic kit in my purse. We don’t need a bunch of other lame girls around to have fun. We can have it all by ourselves.”
Before she could nix the idea, I hurried to my purse I’d left on the floor by the front door and returned to the chair beside her, pulling out everything I had on me and lining each item on the coffee table.
“You sit here,” I ordered as if she wasn’t already sitting, “And I’ll glam you up.”
That’s what happened too. I babbled and applied while she sat and listened.
“The key to putting on makeup,” I murmured ten minutes later, holding my mouth just right to mimic how I wanted hers to purse while I applied glittery gloss to her lips, “is to make it look like you’re not wearing any at all. I mean, to be honest, if you’re not going out club-hopping, too much makeup these days is just tacky and gauche.”
“Then…why…put…it…on…”
Since the long question was such an effort for her, I hopped in, interrupting. “Why put it on at all?”
When she nodded, letting me know that’s exactly what she was curious about, I grinned. “Oh, Sarah, Sarah, Sarah. I have so much to teach you, my little grasshopper. You see, beauty is all in the eye of the beholder. Some people will think you’re lovely no matter how much you doll yourself up. Others will think you’re hideous. It doesn’t matter who you are. It’s just a fact of life. So, honestly, the only opinion that really matters is your own. And I say…as long as you feel pretty, you will be. When you take out special time each morning to beautify yourself, it’s just easier to feel that way. Tilt your chin up for me, will you, precious?”
I was pretty sure my whacked out spe
ech on life and beauty would horrify Sarah’s mother. But…Dawn wasn’t here, so I kept gushing on as I grasped her chin to keep it as steady as possible when she tried to move it up herself but couldn’t quite manage.
When I playfully dusted blush across her nose, she giggled a hoarse, keening moan.
I think I loved her laugh.
“There,” I murmured, tilting her face from the left to the right as if examining every inch for flaws. Surprisingly, I found none. “You’re simply beautiful, dawhling.”
And she really was. There was a certain glow to her perfectly formed cheeks. I could see how she was related to Mason. They both had gray eyes and dark eyebrows. On him, the eyebrows looked sexy. On her, I might’ve wanted to pull out my tweezers and start plucking, but they still gave her a certain charming character. She looked amazing.
“I always feel like dancing when I put on makeup just for fun,” I told her. “Do you feel like dancing?”
She nodded, and I grinned. “Well then what are we waiting for, chickie? Let’s boogie.”