She waves away my hesitation and grabs the seduction red lipstick from my threadbare makeup bag. “Well?” she asks, holding the lipstick up like it’s a weapon. “Go big or go home, right?”
Laughing, I nod. “Alright then. Lay it on me.”
“Yesss!” She keeps snapping her fingers. “Girl, slay! He won’t be able to take his eyes off you!”
Yeah, I think to myself with that mix of self-loathing and fluttery hope that’s come to feel all too natural lately. That’s what I’m hoping for.
And that’s exactly the problem.
When I walk out of my bedroom, everyone freezes. Amelia and the kids are sitting in the middle of the living room floor, having shoved aside the coffee table to make a sprawling Lego city populated by Barbies galore—another present from Ruslan.
Caroline just gasps. Amelia wolf whistle
