“Aww. Thanks. You, too.” Lela looked down at herself and rotated her hips to make the skirt swish. “I only got to wear this the one time but they let me keep it after the shoot. I thought it would be fun for this occasion.”
“Well, you look gorgeous,” Tammera said.
“Thank you.”
“Don’t forget. My grandmother wants a photo with you today,” Delia said. “She went gray twenty years ago. I think she’s a little mad she didn’t get famous for it.”
“Tammera’s the famous one. I had a few minutes of fame. There’s a big difference.”
“Hey, Tammera,” Caprice said. “I’m going to go check on Daddy. He was complaining about it being hot in the sanctuary.”
“Thank you. That man is nothing short of high maintenance,” Tammera said.
Lela set down the small makeup case she’d brought. She’d done Tammera’s makeup so many times that she didn’t need the full array of products she typically carried. As for Delia, she had several allergies and preferred to do her own makeup.
“Isn’t it bad luck to see your partner before the ceremony?” Lela asked.
“Pfft,” Tammera said. “I don’t believe in that and neither does Delia. It seems silly to be separated. We’ve been living together for three years. Plus, have you ever hung out in a preschool classroom by yourself? It’s creepy.”
Lela laughed, still amazed that Tammera’s normally keen sense of a disturbance in Lela’s life force had not yet cropped up. Lela hadn’t told a soul that she and Donovan had slept together again. “Feeling nervous?”
Tammera looked lovingly at Delia, and their gazes connected. “Nope,” they said in unison.
“Do you want to get started?”
Tammera shrugged. “Sure.”
Lela looked around the room. The lighting was absolutely terrible—fluorescent overheads and nothing else. “Come on. Over by the window.” Lela found the teacher’s chair, which was a normal size, and dragged it closer to the natural light. With a whoosh, she raised the shades, allowing daylight to flood the room. “Much better.”
Tammera sat down and looked up at Lela. That was the moment when her expression changed. She narrowed her eyes and twisted her lips. Her spidey sense still worked. “What happened? Something happened.”
Lela cracked half a smile, then squirted some primer onto a sponge and began applying it. “Donovan and I are… something. I don’t know exactly. But we had sex and it didn’t end disastrously.”
Delia hopped up and dragged her own tiny chair across the floor. “I’m listening.”
“I thought you weren’t going to go there again. What made you change your mind?”
Of course, it hadn’t been a single moment. It had been a long string of events, much like the entire tale of their friendship. “It started at Echo’s wedding. We spent a lot of time together and it was really nice. We talked about old times, including a few misunderstandings between us. Or maybe it’s more accurate to say missing pieces.” Lela switched to Tammera’s foundation, dabbing and blending. “And then there was the Good Day USA appearance. I was freaking out and he was so sweet to me. Then, my parents came to town and he went out with us and I don’t know. Things were just different. He walked me home and he told me that he didn’t want to be friends anymore.”
“Because he wanted to be more?” Delia asked.
“Yes.”
Delia squealed. “So romantic.”
“And then you got to tearing each other’s clothes off?” Tammera was not quite as sentimental.
“That’s typically how it happens, yes,” Lela answered.
“And now what?” Tammera asked as Lela started doing some light contouring.
“We’re attending the wedding of the year together, of course.” Lela didn’t want too much attention put on the subject of Donovan and her. As far as she was concerned, it was a lot of unnecessary pressure.See where things go,seemed like a passable mantra.
“When will he be here?” Delia asked.
“He’s driving down from Connecticut this morning. I haven’t seen him for a week and a half because he went to take care of his mom after surgery. I told him I’ll save him a seat, so probably right before the ceremony?”
“That’s soon,” Delia said. “You must be excited.”
