Page 44 of Heartsick & Lipsticks
“It’s Skye.” I reminded him each time I saw him, but he kept calling me Miss Taylor. Ri nudged my ribs with her elbow. “Oh, Kurt, this is my friend Rihanna. Rihanna, Kurt.”
“Nice to meet you.” His tone remained professional, but I noticed the flicker—no flames of interest in his eyes. Ri’s eyes were giving off matching heat as sparks flew between them.
It didn’t surprise me that the energy between them felt combustible. Rihanna had chemistry with a plant. Literally. Our entire class had done a science experiment with plants when we were in seventh grade, where we had two identical plants that were in the exact same conditions with the exact same food, but one we spoke to each day and one we only watered.
Out of all the plants in the class, Ri’s had grown the tallest and had the greenest leaves. The teacher asked her what she’d said to her plant, and she’d basically flirted with the thing, which she’d decided was male. She’d told ‘him’ every day how strong and handsome he was.
After a few moments of eye flirting, Ri gave me a quick hug and then smiled and waved at Kurt. “Nice meeting you, Kurt. You drive safe, Skye’s precious cargo.”
I wasn’t sure how I felt about being referred to as cargo, but if anyone could get away with it, it was Rihanna.
“Yes, ma’am.” Kurt nodded.
As I climbed into the back seat, I dug into my bag to grab makeup wipes. I pulled out the pack of Neutrogena I kept inside and found that it was empty. Callie. She must have run out and dipped into my supply. She was a repeat offender. She’d done the same thing with my tampons, allergy medication, and lip balm.
Shit.Ineverwore makeup to work, which was why I kept makeup wipes in my bag. The last thing I wanted was for Nick to think that I had done it for his benefit. Maybe I wouldn’t see him tonight.
The thought made me both relieved and sad. Before I knew it, we were pulling up to the house.
“Oh, I forgot to ask, how’s your sister doing?” On Friday morning, when Kurt dropped me off, he’d gotten an emergency call from his sister, who had been in a traffic accident.
“She’s good. She’s feeling much better, thank you.” He grinned at me.
“Thanks for the ride,” I smiled.
“You’re welcome.”
I stepped inside the door that entered through the garage and found Bella seated at the large kitchen island coloring with Parker, which meant that most likely Nick wasn’t there. Parker was only around in the evenings when Nick was gone. Again, I was both relieved and disappointed.
When Bella looked up and saw me, her eyes widened. “You look beautiful! You look like a princess.”
I was pretty sure that was the best compliment one could get from a six-year-old.
“Thank you.”
“You really do,” Parker agreed, and I felt the need to defend myself.
“Thanks, my friend is practicing wedding looks, and time just sort of got away from us.”
He nodded, and I could see that he wasn’t buying it. He’d thought I’d done this for other reasons. He’d dropped a few not-so-subtle hints about Nick being single, asking if I was single. I wasn’t sure why he thought I was even remotely in Nick’s league, but it was sort of flattering that he did.
“Come seemymakeup!” Bella exclaimed as she hopped off the stool.
“Um,” I checked the time and saw that I was fifteen minutes early for my shift. The traffic had been light today, so we’d made it across town quickly. “Okay.”
Bella held my hand and practically dragged me upstairs to her room. Parker followed behind us. When we got inside, she rushed over to a small table with a mirror in front of it, and I saw that there were at least fifty different shades and brands in a plastic container.
“Wow, that’s quite a collection,” I enthused.
“They’re my Easter eggs,” she stated proudly.
“You get them in Easter eggs?”
“No, but I find them in places, like the couch or the car, or in Daddy’s room, or the bathroom. Daddy’s friends leave them for me like Easter eggs.”
“Daddy’s friends?” I questioned.
“Yeah, I don’t know them, but they leave me these.”
