There was no backtracking. He knew. “Yes.”
“Wonderful. I need to get back to work. But please knock again before you leave. I’d love to take a picture with you in your dress. I need one of you for my desk.” He gave me a kind smile that didn’t at all match his latest threat.
Chapter 26
Saturday
It was easy to push the conversation with Mr. Pruitt to the back of my mind when I went back to my room. Kennedy was sitting on my bed getting her nails painted, laughing with Justin. Her hair was piled on top of her head in big rollers. I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen her with such a big smile. I just wanted to focus on the dance and having fun for one night.
Besides, Miller wasn’t here. So I couldn’t talk to him right now anyway. Going down to the staff floor was absolutely not the right move. Mr. Pruitt was clearly watching me. And I wasn’t going to give him a reason to fire Miller.
“Don’t you love this color?” Kennedy asked as she showed me her purple nails. The hue matched her dress perfectly.
“It’s great.” I sat down next to her on the bed. “So let me get this straight, Justin. You’re an assistant, a stylist, and a…”
“Self-proclaimed makeover artist!” He put the brush back into the nail polish. “Your father called and asked if I had any recommendations, so I recommended myself right into this gig. I knew you’d be a valuable client. Now pick a color. We don’t have much time.” He opened up one of the plastic containers he’d come in with. It was filled with a whole rainbow of nail polishes, a blow dryer, more bobby pins than I could imagine, and so much freaking hairspray. More hairspray than should ever be in anyone’s hair. I suddenly understood how Justin always kept his hair just so.
“If we’re running low on time, I can skip doing my nails,” I said. “I never really bother to paint my nails.”
“Nonsense. There’s always time to be fabulous.” He rifled through the colors and lifted up a silver one with sparkles. “How about this?”
Kennedy gave me an encouraging nod.
The silver sparkles looked fun. I felt a smile spreading across my face. “Okay.”
“I could get used to this,” Kennedy said as she blew on her nails. “Oh, our drinks are here!”
I looked up to see Tiffany coming in with a tray of glasses filled to the brim with something clear and bubbly.
I remembered when I’d gone over to The Hunters’ house for help with my project. They’d had someone serve alcohol even though we were all underage. Why were adults agreeing to this?
“You asked her to bring us drinks?” I asked.
“No. She offered,” Kennedy said and lifted one off the tray. “Don’t worry. It’s just sparkling water. Not punch.”
I laughed. I couldn’t be mad about sparkling water. I grabbed one too. “Thank you so much, Tiffany.”
She smiled. “Anything else I can grab for you? I know Barbara just pulled some chocolate scones out of the oven.”
Kennedy and I both looked at each other.
“We would love some scones,” Kennedy said in a ditsy voice that sounded a lot like Isabella.
Tiffany laughed.
For a few minutes there, I thought Kennedy was getting more used to this lifestyle than I was. But she was just having fun. And Tiffany was enjoying it too.
“Right away, ma’am,” she said and we all giggled.
“I swear to God, if you girls smudge your nails I’m not redoing them,” Justin said as he snagged the sparkling water out of my hand for himself. “Be still.”
“Yes, sir.”
He laughed too. But then slapped the back of my hand when I fidgeted again.
“This room isn’t nearly as bad as the rest of the house,” Kennedy said. “I love the color. Everything is so light and airy now that the smell of pee is gone. It reminds me of this beach house I went to when I was a kid.”
“Mr. Pruitt picked out the color,” I said.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Interesting. I guess his wife decorated the rest of the apartment? Who knew he was such a bright and cheery guy?”
Justin laughed and then silently scolded himself for some imperfection I couldn’t see on my nails.
“My mom loved yellow,” I said. “And he remembered.”
“That’s sweet.” Kennedy reached up to touch one of her rollers.
“Don’t you dare touch that,” Justin said. “It needs time to set.” He screwed the cap back on the silver nail polish. “Now what to do with your hair,” he said to me and shoved the sparkling water back into my hand.
I didn’t really have any suggestions for him. I’d never had my hair done before.
He continued to stare at me for a few more seconds before he snapped his fingers. “I’ve got it. It’s going to be fantabulous. You’re going to love it.” His voice went up about 12 octaves and his eyes rolled back into his head when he said love it.
He seemed to be selling it pretty hard. But I trusted his judgment. The clothes he’d helped pick out had looked good on me. He knew what he was doing. He was going to plan weddings one day. So he could surely handle a hairdo.
Kennedy lifted her camera, being careful not to mess up her nails, and snapped a picture of me. “This is seriously the best day ever. I don’t want to ever forget it. Can you get one of us together?” she asked Justin and handed him the camera.
“Promise you won’t touch your hair again?” he asked.
She nodded.
He took the camera from her. “Say cheese,” he said.
I smiled as big as I could. Kennedy was right. I didn’t want to forget today either. We’d basically gotten a spa day without leaving my room. Plus Kennedy was allowed to visit whenever she wanted now.
“What happened to your new cell phone?” she asked as she took the camera back from Justin.
“It’s in my dresser.”
“Why?”
“Because it was annoying.”
She laughed and walked over to the dresser. “Why was it annoying? It has so many new features that mine doesn’t.” She pulled it out and turned it back on. It immediately started buzzing in her hand. “Whoa.”
“What?”
“You have so many missed calls and text from Matt.” She squealed and started reading the texts to me: