Page 42 of Hollywood King
Seventeen
Cathy
When it came to hair,makeup, clothes, I could hold my own. Trained from ten to always be ready for the public eye, it became a habit over the years. I had to recondition myself when I started school to get the much-needed sleep during the time I usually wasted primping.
I surveyed my closet, but as I shoved each dress to the side in rejection, my previous attempt at seduction kept rearing its ugly-memory head. It was the last time Heath and I were together, before, and I still didn’t get laid. In anger, a couple years later, I lost my virginity to a one-night-stand.
Afterward, I didn’t regret it, but after a few years passed and my anger abated, I started to. Now, with Heath back in my life, regret filled me like an overinflated balloon. So many things I could have done to change things. I’d spent so long being angry at him for not coming to me, but never once, didItry to findhim. Ten long years, and I could finally admit we were both at fault for our separation.
I surveyed another dress, short, busty, but would Heath like it? Which is the part that scared me: I didn’t know what Heath liked. The image of Isobel’s long legs and tiny waist, hit me in face, but I pushed it away. Comparing myself to her would never help the situation, only tear me down.
My phone rang, and I rescued it from a pile of dresses and answered with a gruff, “hello?”
“Cathy? Are you okay?”
I turned back to look at my closet. “I’m fine, Eddy, I am just having…a problem.”
“Er, what sort of problem?”
Another dress added to the pile. I really needed to clean out my closet. Some of these I would never wear again. Bringing to mind too many bad memories. I stopped a strappy black dress. Slim at the waist and tapered to a bell shape. A classic silhouette.
“Are you still there?” Eddy asked.
I’d fallen into the scary blackhole of the past. “Sorry, yes. I’m here. Can you come over for a minute? I think a second opinion is needed.”
“Sure, I was already headed home and thought I’d call to make sure I didn’t need to come over before I got there, so I’m nearby.”
“See you soon.” I hung up and scanned the next dress in the long line of closet space. Then plucked it out and tossed it in the reject pile. I kept on like that until Eddy called out from the front room.
“I’m in my bedroom.”
I caught an oooh and rolled my eyes. The dork. He came in still wearing his workout clothes from his after shift run. “Are you spring cleaning early?”
I clutched my robe tighter and extra secured it so I didn’t flash him anything. “No, I have a date. An important date with Heath. I don’t know what to wear.”
“Cathy Earnshaw at a loss for fashion, and you’re asking my advice?”
I stepped over a pile of clothes and gestured to my closet. “I like my clothes. I usually wear the same few outfits over and over. The problem is I don’t know what Heath likes. I don’t know what to do in this situation.”
He pushed some clothes off the edge of my bed and sat down. “What situation? You’re going on a date. You’ve done that dozens of times.”
“It’s not just a date. I’m planning to”—I took a deep breath and rushed out the words—“seduce him.”
“Wait, is this a fashion question or a sex question?”
I considered. “Both?” He slid over and made room for me to sit too. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked you. It was dumb.” I dropped my head into my hands and took a few cleansing breaths.
“Look, it wasn’t dumb to ask me. I’m a man, I have a penis, and you thought I might have some magical insight. But from what I’ve seen between you and Heath, you could wear a paperback to his house, and he’d still love it. He doesn’t want you to be someone you’re not, dress differently, or act sexy. I’m pretty sure he just wants you. Cathy. No one else.”
I wasn’t so sure about that. Telling him about his sister wasn’t something I wanted to end the conversation on. Instead of offering more unhelpful advice, he hoisted himself off the bed and surveyed the closet. He shuffled a few things to the side and pulled out another black dress. “Wear this one.”
I took it and lay it over the spot I vacated on the bed. “Why this one?”
“It will look really good on you.” He kissed the top of my head and walked out. I waited to hear if he locked the door—he did—before I found the lingerie set I liked to match the dress and slid it over my head. Damn it, Eddy was right.
I finished my hair and makeup and stood at the full-length mirror in the hall and surveyed myself. “If I were a man, would I want to spend the night having really hot wild sex with me?”
The exercise didn’t help, so I grabbed my stuff and hit the curb where Heath’s car already waited. We made it a lot faster than I remembered, and soon, I stood on Heath’s doorstep, my hand shaking as I raised it to the bell. I could go home, pretend this plan never happened.
