She had to admit that it was hard to maintain a personal distance when Eden was so easy to like. She’d charmed everyone at the studio. Nothing at all like the girl who sat down across from the coffee shop with Jos, ready to go to battle. She was kind, compassionate, empathetic. She cared about people, and she remembered all the small details. She was good with names and never forgot one or a face, even if she had never been told that person’s name. She was never late for work, even though she talked about the work she was still doing with the homeless people in the area of the city where she lived. She was flawless, effortless, undeniably beautiful, and se could read a mean teleprompter.
She’d make an excellent replacement for Jos one day.
That day might be coming sooner than Jos thought. She’d signed a contract, but she wouldn’t put it past the head honchos to try to push her out, to make her want to quit, and then it would be her decision. They wouldn’t have to pay severance, and there would be no bad blood on their side of things.
Nothing else had happened, but Jos would be lying if she said she wasn’t holding her breath.
Maybe it had been just a coincidence, but she still didn’t think so. It felt too personal and too painful to think so.
Jos couldn’t help but steal a glance over at the chair just down from her, where Eden sat getting her makeup done by Kathy, a makeup artist hired just for her. She also had a brand-new hire to do her hair and the guy was fantastic. Eden didn’t just look beautiful every night on set, she was transformed into a goddess.
When Joe finished with Jos’ hair and makeup, he stepped back and gave her a look that she’d never seen before, and he’d been doing her hair and makeup for years. It was on the tip of her tongue to demand an answer to why he was looking at her that way, but she bit down on the inside of her cheek, determined to ignore it, until she turned around and looked into the mirror.
“Joe!” Jos couldn’t help her shrill tone. “What the heck did you do to my makeup?”
Joe hadn’t gone with the usual. No wonder he was looking at her like that. She looked like a cross between a racoon who had been eating overripe crab apples and was drunk on the fermented fruit and a sixty-year-old woman who was going for a late thirties look by caking on the makeup so thick that it looked like cement
. And that was doing racoons and sixty-year-old women a disservice.
Joe ran a hand through his hair, looking awkward and embarrassed. “Alden asked me if I could change things up a bit. They’re adjusting the lighting on set too.” He frowned. “Sit back down. Maybe I need—”
“Whoa.” Suddenly Eden was standing over Jos, biting down on her bottom lip and sawing it back and forth with her top teeth. Jos still got a tingle that shot up her spine, even though she was horrified over what Joe had just said. Eden turned to Joe. “That’s not a good look. I think you should take it off and go for something else.”
Joe and Jos looked at Eden with equal expressions of shock. No one talked to Joe that way. But Eden wasn’t being demanding or mean. She was still sweet and smiling, and then she did the wildest thing and started listing off ideas, suggestions, and techniques. She was going on about the latest trend before she brought out her phone and turned it around for Joe to watch something. A video. She was playing a video for him.
Jos couldn’t speak. She couldn’t get out a single word. She was so appalled by what Joe had done. Okay, so maybe it wasn’t what he had done, so much as what he’d said and tried to do. Joe was nice. He didn’t mean it. But Alden? Jos felt sick. Acid coated the back of her tongue as her stomach rolled. They were trying to say that she looked old. The message couldn’t be clearer.
If they wanted me gone so badly, why did they agree to a three-year extension on my contract? Because they wanted Eden Rutherford that badly and they didn’t think they could get her themselves? Because they had a plan all along to force me out despite the extension?
Joe began wiping the makeup off, but Jos barely felt a thing. She came back to herself, the numb horror and shock of what had just played out wearing off to be replaced by the terrible warmth of embarrassment that anyone had witnessed that.
Except there was no one gaping or gawking at her. Eden was supervising, her own makeup half done, but still looking like a regal, elegant queen, and Joe was getting different products lined up. He had a new and determined expression on his face.
Jos bit the inside of her cheek again until she tasted metal. Did the powers that be have any idea what kind of monster they could unleash by giving Eden power like this? She was basically untouchable. Not that she’d ever use that for anything but good. They were just lucky Eden had a good heart and that she would never let that power go to her head.
It took Jos a moment to realize what they heck she’d just thought, but she knew it was true, even if she didn’t know Eden very well.
After Joe was finished, Jos turned around, dreading the mirror in a brand-new way, and for her, the mirror was starting to be something that was unkind, something that showed her the face of a stranger, of a woman she was so critical of because she might have a new wrinkle or a new line or a strand of gray peeking through the blonde. Her mouth dropped when she saw Joe’s do-over.
“Oh my God.” The words escaped her before she could stop them. She leaned in closer to the bright lights, lights which hid very little at all and never lied.
She’d never looked better. Her makeup was light and fresh. She looked at least five years younger, but it wasn’t just the youthful glow that she was busy analyzing. The blue of her eyes was brought out by the new shade of shadow. The darker, more daring smoky eye that Joe had executed perfectly. The drunk racoon was gone, thank goodness. The foundation was light and gave her a perfect, airbrushed look.
“Is that a good oh my God?” Joe was holding his breath. Why? Did he think she was going to snap at him? She’d never blasted out orders or used a harsh tone on anyone she’d worked with in her life. She didn’t believe in being mean, and being a snappy toad never got anyone very far. She’d always tried to be fair. Always.
Jos’ throat was thick and burning, so she just nodded. Joe let out a muted sound of triumph and started cleaning brushes and packing up his things.
She was still looking at herself in the mirror when Eden bent down beside the chair. Jos couldn’t help it. She felt like she had to defend herself against Eden’s kindness. It was too much. It was always going to be too much.
“I really don’t need you to have my back,” she said quietly, so no one else could hear.
Eden was close. Too close. She’d had to lean in to hear what Jos was saying. She smelled like coconuts and jasmine. An odd combination that somehow worked for her. It worked for Jos too, warming her body and sending another shiver racing down her spine.
“Yes, you do,” Eden corrected. “We’re friends and we’re women, and women should stick together as a sisterhood instead of competing with each other. And we’re cohosts. That’s a huge reason to have your back. If you look good out there, I look good out there.”
Jos whipped around in the chair, nearly knocking Eden over, but she found the younger woman grinning at her like the devil himself. She knew that would get a rise out of Jos and she’d said it because humor was a good thing. It was a good tool to use to relieve crazy thick tension. Jos’ throat got a little bit tighter and a little bit hotter.
Eden stood up and clapped her hands together. “In two days we’re doing an interview with three different local shelters. One’s a women’s shelter and two others are in the neighborhood where I live. We’re shooting the footage tomorrow.”