I looked at her again, more closely, and something about her made me feel like she was being honest. She wasn’t just doing her job of flattering clients.
“Well,” I said, “that’s very kind of you to say. I should also say that you’re very beautiful yourself. I’d kill for your makeup skills.”
“You have to really make an effort working in a place like this,” she said. “It’s no cake walk.”
“I can imagine.”
“But I really love doing makeup. I’m actually saving up to go to school for it.”
“Oh, where are you thinking of going?”
“Bay College.”
“No kidding? I know the dean there. I supply wine to his wife’s restaurant.”
“Maybe you could put in a word for me.”
I laughed. “I’m sure you’ll get in on merit,” I said, “especially after working somewhere as prestigious as this.”
She smiled. “I hope so.”
I glanced at the cappuccino machine and Cassie jumped up. “Oh gosh, where are my manners? Do you want a coffee? I should have offered you one as soon as you got here.”
“Actually, I would,” I said. “I usually don’t drink coffee in the evening but I’m going on a date so the energy might come in handy.”
She brought me over a perfect cappuccino and I thanked her. Then, to my surprise, she sat down next to me.
“Do you mind if I ask you something personal?” she said.
I was a little taken aback but I was enjoying her company and she seemed like a genuinely nice girl, even if she looked like something out of a porno movie.
“Go ahead,” I said, “but I won’t promise I’ll answer truthfully.”
She smiled. “Do you have any advice for a girl my age?”
“Advice?”
“You know? On how to find a man, and have a happy life? I see women like you come in here all the time. You look wealthy, and put together, like you know what you’re doing. All the women in my family have struggled. My mother raised me alone. I’ve got a two-year-old daughter and the father’s out of the picture. I don’t mean to criticize my mother, because she gave up everything to give me the best she could, but I want better for my daughter. I want to become someone like you.”
“I’m not sure I’m what you should be aspiring to.”
“Why not? Your clothes are expensive. Your watch is worth more than my car. You drove in here in a Mercedes.”
“My father left me with money,” I said. “Nothing I’ve done got me to where I am.”
Cassie nodded. She looked so eager, so sincere. I knew what she was asking me. She was asking what she had to do, what would it take, to make something of her life. The only problem was, I didn’t know the answer. I was in the same boat as she was.
“I’ll tell you what,” I said. “I think your plan of going to school is a good one. You should follow through with that. Don’t get sidetracked. It won’t be easy with a little daughter to support, but she’ll give you the focus and drive to succeed, because you’ll be doing it for her as well as for yourself.”
Cassie smiled. “And do you think I’ll ever find a man? A mean a good man, who’ll be willing to make me his wife even though I come with baggage.”
“Your daughter’s not baggage, Cassie. She’s a gift. And a real man will recognize that.”
“I hope so.”
I took her hand and squeezed it. “Me too,” I said.
“What do you mean?”
I shrugged. “It may look to you like I’m all set, because I have a nice watch and a nice car,” I said, “but the truth is, Cassie, I want what you want. I’m searching, just like you are, for a good man who’ll give me the love and care that I know I deserve. I want a husband. I want a husband so badly.”
“But you won’t settle, right?”
I thought about the humiliation I’d gone through with Rob the night before, but I pushed it from my mind. “I hope I never settle,” I said. “I hope I end up with the man of my dreams. But to be honest, a good man would be enough, Cassie. A man who believed in the sanctity of marriage, and the importance of family, and commitment, and love.”
Cassie nodded. “Come here,” she said, standing up. “Follow me.”
“Where?”
“You’ll see.”
I followed her through the swinging doors Rob had passed through, into one of the rooms off the corridor.
“This is one of our makeup studios,” she said. “We use them to show women who are considering surgery what’s possible.”
“What do you mean?”
“We give you the best makeover possible without surgery. Really sexy makeup and hair. We make you look stunning.”
“I see.”
“I’m not qualified, but I’ve watched them do it a million times.”
I nodded, not sure where Cassie was going with this.