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“Sorry, I shouldn’t have said all that.” She took a deep breath. “Back to you, the bride has no hairstyle or makeup preferences. Her only request was that everyone feel their best.”
“Really?” Eliza hadn’t been prepared for that. She figured everyone’s look would be uniform.
Jess continued organizing her tools as Eliza tried to figure out what look she wanted. She wasn’t used to having a beauty expert at the ready, waiting for her to give the marching orders. Her first wedding had been so sudden, she hadn’t had her makeup and hair done, and her second, Doug had told her what he preferred, up-twist, with matte lipstick. He’d told her he didn’t want their first kiss to be ruined by any of that “glossy shit.”
He’d controlled every aspect of the wedding. She’d thought at the time that it was because he was so invested in her, in them. But she should have known that it wasn’t about that when he insisted that her father not accompany her down the aisle. He’d said it was an antiquated tradition and a woman didn’t need anyone to give her away. She’d tried to tell him that she didn’t feel that way, but he’d said she was too “emotional” to make decisions and it wasn’t up for discussion.
Yeah. He was a real sweetheart.
Perhaps sensing her hesitation, Jess pulled a “look book” out of her bag that had Polaroids of all different women with their hair and makeup done in every way you could possibly imagine. Eliza glanced through them and instead of being inspired, all she felt was overwhelmed. She realized this must be what her patients felt when they were looking at veneers. So she did what a lot of them did in that situation, she left it to the expert.
She closed the book. “You know what, Jess, I am in your hands. Dealer’s choice. Do whatever you think is best.”
“Seriously?!” Her face lit up with artistic passion. “I love a blank canvas!”
Blank canvas. Eliza stared at her reflection in the mirror. That’s what her life had looked like a few weeks ago, one giant blank canvas. But now when she looked at it, all she saw was Nate. The problem was, she had no idea what he thought when he looked at the portrait of his life. Was she in the picture?
“Let’s see…” Jess ran her fingers through Eliza’s hair. “I think down, with beachy waves and…” Her lips puckered out like a duck as she tapped the handle of her brush against her palm as she studied Eliza’s face. “Your dress is coral, so I think brown and pink tones. We’ll do a smoky eye and—“she bent down and rummaged through her bag. When she stood, she held up a compact and a tube of lipstick—“Jackpot! We’ll do Sunset Shadow for your cheeks and First Love on your lips.”
“Great!”
Eliza had never put much stock into signs, but if she did, she’d have to think that there was something to the choice of lipstick.
