there after this stressful day—Lord knew she’d need it. They were going to have to have the room cleaned again anyway. She might as well make the most of it.
“The majority of the women I work on usually like havin’ this done, you know,” Janine said with a teasing lilt.
“Yeah, well, my cousin’s not most women.” Nat hadn’t moved from her perch next to Sadie, no doubt so she could give constant input about the hair and makeup to make sure it fit her vision.
They hadn’t allowed Sadie to peer into any mirrors, so, of course, she feared the worst. She’d been sitting there for nearly three hours already—what the hell were they doing? She wasn’t a vain person by nature, but she had no idea it’d take so much to make her camera-ready. She was terrified they’d turned her in someone else. Worse, what if Cole actually liked new, completely inauthentic her?
Better question—why did she even care?
“Okay, I’m just gonna apply the lashes…”
At the blob of black slowly invading her sight, Sadie jerked far enough back so Janine came into focus, said black blob pinched between the tweezers she wielded.
Sadie held up her hand. “Wait…eyelashes? I…I have eyelashes, though.”
Nat and Janine both laughed before Janine lowered the tweezers and rested a hand on her hip. “Relax. They come right off. Well…not right off because then they’d start flappin’ in the breeze right in the middle of the session, but they’re easy to remove. I promise.”
Sadie eyed her skeptically until the other woman held up the non-tweezer-wielding hand. “Swear. I’m not even usin’ the fullest option. I just wanna accentuate what you already have.”
Blowing out a deep breath, Sadie nodded, even though her shoulders remained stiff. As Janine placed the eyelashes, Sadie’s apprehension only grew. It felt like two caterpillars crawling on her eyelids—how could that possibly look authentic?
“How do people wear these every day?” she asked.
Janine laughed. “You’ll get used to ’em.”
“They’re so much heavier than I thought they’d be. And are they supposed to cloud half my vision?” There was no way she remotely resembled herself. Would her twin even recognize her?
“You’re gonna forget all about that when you see how hot you look,” Nat said, brandishing a mirror in front of Sadie.
She froze for half a second, terrified at what she’d find, but in the end, curiosity won out. She lowered her gaze to the large mirror, and her mouth dropped open.
“Wow,” she breathed.
They’d left her hair down, curled in loose waves not unlike she usually styled it, and though it felt as if she wore a pound of makeup, the effect was actually very subtle. Deep pink stained her lips—something she wouldn’t normally wear, but that she actually sort of liked—and her blue eyes popped thanks to the eye shadow colors Janine had chosen. And she’d been right. Sadie couldn’t believe that the massive clump that felt like it was taking up half her vision didn’t appear fake. The whole look was her, just kicked up a notch…or twelve.
Nat raised a single eyebrow. “Good ‘wow,’ or what the fuck ‘wow’?”
Sadie huffed out a laugh and lowered the mirror, turning to catch her cousin’s gaze. “Definitely good. I thought you were makin’ me up to look like a totally different person.”
“Why the hell would I do that? You’re gorgeous. Now for the dress…” Nat’s eyes brightened as she strode into the bedroom where the gown had been hanging all day.
“Have you seen it?” Sadie asked Janine as the makeup artist spritzed some sort of spray all over her face.
“Yep, and all I can say is I’d kill to wear a dress like that.”
Well, that sounded promising at least…
Nat strolled back into the sitting room, the dress held aloft as a huge grin split her face. “Ta-da,” she said, flipping the gown around with flourish so Sadie could see.
Sadie’s smile froze as she glanced at the article of clothing she’d be wearing for the next several hours. She’d coordinated enough weddings to know the vast range of bridal gowns, so she didn’t know why she’d assumed the one she’d be wearing today would be a ballgown. That was ludicrous, considering there were dozens of other styles. She now realized her assumption had been based in hope strictly out of self-preservation. Because at least a ballgown would allow for a safe distance between her and Cole. This—this full-lace dress with its plunging neckline cut clear down to damn near her belly button and see-through skirt that would tease nearly