“Can I get your autograph?” asked a woman wearing Daisy’s signature Business Day Eye and her Wowza Lips.
“Sure.” Daisy took the 5 x 7 glossy photo MyHeartChannel had placed inside attendees’ gift bags. She used a metallic sharpie to sign her name with a flourish. If a fan emailed her, she wrote them a personalized note, but that would take all day and the organizers needed this room. “I love that eye shadow on you, by the way. It’s a beautiful match with your skin tone.”
“Thank you!” the woman gushed, pressing the picture to her chest. “I watch your channel every day.”
“Thanks!” Daisy gave her a quick hug and moved on to the next eager face.
This woman wore the Halloween Hopeful eye shadow. The purple matched a streak in her black hair. Though the heavy shadow was fun for Halloween, not a lot of women could pull it off as a day face. She’d sat in the exact middle of the room, hiding behind her hair through most of the class.
“You are rockin’ that look, girl.” Daisy hugged her hello. She felt the lady relax into her as if the physical contact were a healing balm.
They chatted for a moment about makeup removal. “I’m going to tag a short segment on the end of that video about using olive oil on the eyelids. Thank you so much for stopping to talk to me today.”
The woman, Trudy, went in for one more hug and then she left the group with her chin high, her hair falling gently to the side.
“Excuse me. Excuseme.” Felicity, the conference committee member who was in charge of making sure Daisy got to all the right places, elbowed her way through the group. She was a full head taller than anyone else, which made it easy to follow her progress. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a loose ponytail that exposed an inch of brown roots, and she had smudged the green eyeliner on her left eye.
Daisy motioned her closer and people parted to let her in. She made eye contact and smiled at Teri, who had been listening in and Daisy didn’t even know it. Her nerves ratcheted back up and she was thankful for that extra layer of deodorant this morning.
Felicity tripped into the circle. “Thanks! Okay, so I just got a message that one of our panelists is a no-show.”
The people within hearing distance gasped. Once again, Daisy was grateful for Quinton. If he hadn’t taken Jason,EveryDayGlam!would be the one getting the dirty looks.
Felicity pushed her glasses up. “Would you mind filling in?”
Daisy worked not to glance at Teri, wondering what she thought about the presentation. “What’s the topic?”
“It’s super easy. It’s a Q&A. Any question is game.”
Daisy was scheduled for two other panels this weekend. Other than that, she had hours in the signing room. And being on another panel was a great way to market herself. “Sure. I’d be happy to help.”
Felicity bounced on the balls of her feet. “Thank you so, so much!” She flipped around. “Okay, everyone, Daisy will be in the Aspen room in five minutes. Please let us through.”
There was a collective groan before people began to move.
“She will be at the signing desk later this afternoon.” Felicity took Daisy’s hand. Someone grabbed Daisy’s other hand, and she turned to find Mom toting the laptop bag and grinning with pride. Daisy squeezed her fingers, thankful for her support. She really was the world’s greatest mother.
With Felicity leading the way like an Amazon warrior princess, it didn’t take long before Daisy was at the bottom of three steps that led to a platform. There were five chairs set up, four of them full. On the far end sat Brittany. She looked tiny compared to Ledger Price, who did videos about surviving in the forest with just a pocket knife and a few pine cones. Daisy’s stomach sank. Thankfully Brittany hadn’t seen her yet.
Felicity cupped her hand around her earpiece and stepped to the side. “I’ve got her here. Yeah, give us a few minutes.”
Daisy smoothed her sticky palms down her hips. She could ignore Brittany’s online comments and the way she bashed Daisy’s station time and again—for the most part. It was easy to let water roll off your back if you weren’t standing in the rain. But being face-to-face with Brittany always left Daisy sick to her stomach. Brittany wasn’t any less mean or confrontational in person, and her abrasive personality created awkward silences. Since Daisy worked to not engage with the toxic woman, she often left looking like she’d been run over—even though she chose to stay on the side of the road and let Brittany run herself into the ground.
Mom nudged her up the steps.
“I can’t,” Daisy hissed. “Brittany’s up there.”
Mom moved so she could see around Daisy. She squinted. “That’s her, all right.”
Daisy placed herself in Mom’s line of vision for fear that she’d melt Brittany right there with her death stare and throw the first stone.
“This is a good opportunity for you to practice what you preach. Show your viewers what it means to let your beauty shine through. They’ll notice the difference between you two and they’ll see the light you spread into the world.”
Daisy cringed. “Why do you have to go all ‘Mommy is right on me’ right now?”
Mom laughed. She had a good laugh, deep and throaty. When she was little, Daisy tried to imitate the sound when she laughed, but Quinton told her she sounded like Santa Claus, so she gave it up.
Mom hugged her tight. “You can do this.”
