Not to him, maybe. But one day Kate would meet a guy who did find her irresistible, just as she was.
Regardless, that wasn’t why Kate was doing any of this. Today’s shopping and salon escapade wasn’t about men. It was about Kate and the fact that she was itching for a change. It was the same itch she’d gotten a few years earlier. She’d scratched it then by going to business school, financed by a very generous Ian.
Kate had gotten her MBA, which resulted in a title upgrade from administrative assistant to office administrator, as well as the corresponding pay increase. But more important, she’d felt like a new, changed woman.
It hadn’t occurred to her that the luster of getting her MBA could ever dull, but here she was again with that same itch. And though a haircut was a poor comparison to a master’s degree, her gut told her a fresh look was exactly what she needed. As a starting point, anyway.
She met the stylist’s gaze in the mirror. “Can you just make it . . . better?”
Brianna grinned. “How short are you willing to go?”
“Eh, don’t go crazy,” Kate said. “I had a very ill-advised pixie cut once. Let’s just say I do not have the bone structure to pull that off.”
“Oh, I think you do,” Brianna mused, lifting Kate’s hair away from her face and studying her. “But don’t worry, I think we can keep it long and still remove some of the weight. You also booked a color. What are you thinking there?”
“I’m thinking that I want to stay a brunette, but I’d love if my hair was something other than Hershey’s-bar brown. Especially since it’s not even the Hershey’s Special Dark variety of chocolate,” she said grumpily, glaring at her hair. “It’s like the milk chocolate kind you put on s’mores, because it’s too boring on its own.”
Brianna patted her shoulder. “Trust me. I know exactly what you want. I’m going to go mix some color. Can I get you a magazine?”
“Yes please,” Kate said. “Maybe something with a beauty section and makeup tips?”
If she was going to freshen up her look . . . might as well go all the way.
“Oh my gosh, I’m so glad you called,” Sabrina said, plucking a lipstick tube off the counter, winding it up to study the color, then winding it back down again when she saw it was a violent orange shade. “Nobody knows their way around this city’s cosmetic counters like I do.”
“You know you can buy all of this stuff online. Free shipping,” Lara said, tapping her nail against a foundation bottle.
“Which normally I’d do,” Kate said, giving an overwhelmed glance around the cosmetics department. “But I confess, with this stuff, I don’t know where to start.”
Yes, she’d ended up calling her friends after all. She’d managed just fine on the hair front. Thanks to Brianna’s skill, Kate felt like a whole new woman. Somehow the stylist had managed to leave Kate with her trademark long locks, but her hair was shinier, straighter, and seemed to move with Kate instead of just sort of hanging there. The color, too, was exactly what she’d wanted. There was no crazy change, no too-light streaks, just a little bit of something to make Kate’s natural color look richer.
But then Kate had hit up the cushy department store for stage two of her mini makeover, with the intent of splurging on high-end lipstick, because . . . how hard could that be?
Hard, apparently.
Normally, Kate walked into Sephora and picked up the same beige-pink lipstick she’d been wearing since her very first post-college interview. The brown liner that she sometimes wore, sometimes forgot, was drugstore variety and suited her just fine—when she could remember it.
Today, though, she’d wanted something different, wanted to change it up.
Turns out, too much selection was not always a good thing, and she had found herself overwhelmed by all of the options.
“Okay, what are we thinking?” Sabrina said, surveying the dozens of counters. “Something to go with the new hair, obviously.”
“Which I can’t get over,” Lara said reverently. “How do you get it to swing like that?”
“Money,” Kate said, trying not to think too long or hard on how much damage the style had cost her credit card. “And enjoy it while it lasts, because there are no guarantees I’ll ever be able to get it to look this way again.”
“You could always do a ponytail like I do,” Lara said.
Kate and Sabrina exchanged a look.
“Sweetie,” Sabrina said, tugging Lara’s hair. “You realize you can pull off this cheerleader pony because you have seven times more hair than normal, right? The rest of us only wear this style to Pilates or to wash our face because our ponytail looks about like what you probably shed in the shower.”
“Most disgusting visual ever,” Lara said, and Kate nodded in agreement. “Besides, your hair’s fabulous.”
“Because I know what works for me,” Sabrina said, touching a hand to the sleek knot of dark hair at the nape of her neck. “And I know exactly what makeup works for Kate. This way, pet.”
Kate and Lara dutifully followed after Sabrina, who walked with the confident side-to-side sashay of a woman who was irresistible and knew it.
“So what brought this on?” Lara asked casually. Too casually.
Kate gave her friend a knowing look as Sabrina began rattling off something about warm pinks to a saleswoman at the Chanel counter. “You know that doesn’t work with me.”
“What?” Lara pushed her glasses up her nose.
“The I’m just a curious little thing asking harmless questions routine that makes you so good at your job,” Kate said. Lara had recently joined the FBI’s New York white-collar division and was already climbing the ranks at record speed.
Lara laughed. “Sorry. Habit. Since you’re my friend and not a suspect, I’ll ask straight up. Are you okay? I’m all for self-pampering and feeling gorgeous, but I’ve always known you to be more of a cherry ChapStick kind of gal. I’ve also seen you use a chip clip to tie your hair back.”
“One time,” Kate said, holding up her finger. “I did that one time. And I washed the clip after.”
“Fair enough. So you just wanted a change?”
“Yes, exactly,” Kate said, grateful her friend got it. “I promise if I find myself in some sort of deep-rooted crisis, I’ll tell you, but this really, truly is just me itching to change something up, and my hair and makeup seemed like a good place to start.”
“And clothes,” Sabrina said, waving a tube of mascara over her shoulder without turning around. “Don’t think I’m not coming along for the wardrobe part of this party!”
Kate leaned toward Lara. “I did do the right thing asking you guys to join, right?”
Lara linked arms with her and nudged her toward the counter. “Considering I’ll make sure we go get a glass of wine before Sabrina has her new-clothes way with you, yes. Yes, you did.”
6
Saturday, March 30
“You going to turn that glare on me if I say happy birthday, old man?” Sabrina Cross said, approaching a glowering Kennedy.
Kennedy moved his eyes to his right without turning his head. “Probably not.”