Chapter 9
nine
Kate
The toughest leg of the tour is finally coming to an end.
We’ll be off these damn RVs and checking into hotel rooms by lunch, and honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever been this thrilled about the idea of clean sheets and a real shower.
I’m going to crank the water to boiling and stand there until my entire body looks like a prune.
Dani and I are seated at the kitchen table sipping coffee while she replies to media requests and checks in with venues, and I sort through Josh’s flooded inbox and social media DMs, flagging anything important and deleting the usual chaos.
“What are you doing tonight?” Dani asks, not looking up from her laptop screen. “Want to go out somewhere? We could invite Ty and have a girl’s night.”
“I’m going with Josh to some charity thing at the Hall of Fame.”
Dani’s fingers pause their assault on her keyboard, and she looks at me over her screen.
“You’re what?”
“Josh was invited to some event at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and he asked me if I’d go with him.”
“Like…a date?”
“What? No. Why would you even ask that?”
“Because Josh Calloway doesn’t take women to public events. Like, ever,” she says. “How did I not know about this?”
“I didn’t think it was worth mentioning?”
“I’m calling Tyler,” she says, dialing Ty’s number and putting her phone on speaker. She answers on the third ring.
“What’s up?” she asks.
“Did you know Josh invited Kate to go with him to a fundraiser?”
“What?” she squeals. “Like a date?”
“It’s not a date!” I say, exasperated. “It’s an event. And since I’m literally paid to keep his life in order, he asked me to go.”
Dani doesn’t look convinced. I imagine Tyler doesn’t either.
“Is it black tie?” Dani asks, and I nod. “What are you wearing?”
“I don’t know yet,” I admit. “I was going to go shopping as soon as we got checked into the hotel and I took a real shower.”
“We’re coming with you,” Tyler says.
“Can we do your hair and makeup too?” Dani asks.
I groan.
“Remind me why we’re making a big deal out of this?”
“Kate, you’re going to an event at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,” Dani says, putting extra emphasis on the “hall of fame” part to drive her point home.
“When was the last time you took time to pamper yourself? Got all dressed up for no reason other than to feel beautiful and just have a good time?”
I don’t answer, because I can’t. I don’t think I’ve ever done it. For as far back as I can remember, my time has always been dedicated to everyone else around me.
“I think that non-answer says it all,” Tyler says from her end of the line. “Let us do this for you. Let us show you how it feels to be taken care of.”
“Fine,” I say, rolling my eyes, and as Dani and Ty let out squeals of excitement, I can’t help but feel a little excited too.
My excitement is short lived, and my patience is hanging on by a thread as I step up to stand on a platform in front of the mirrors in the dressing room of some boutique as Dani and Ty fawn over me.
“What do you think?” Dani asks.
“I think it’s a dress,” I say, taking in my reflection. The black dress I am currently squeezed into is floor-length with a slit up the right side that comes to my thigh. The sleeves are long and gather at the wrists, and the deep V cut into the front leaves little to the imagination.
“But do you like it?” Ty asks.
“I don’t know? It’s fine. It looks like the hundred other dresses you two have forced me into so far.”
“It’s black so it’s classic, and your tits look amazing in this one, but…” Ty trails off, tilting her head and studying me in the mirror. “I still think it’s the green one.”
“Agreed,” Dani says, nodding emphatically. “Go put the green one back on.”
“Yes ma’am,” I say, giving her a mock salute and stepping off the platform in front of the mirrors, emerging a few minutes later in the aforementioned emerald green dress and stepping back up onto the platform.
“Yep, this is it,” Dani says, and she’s right.
I can’t explain why, but out of everything I’ve had on today, it looks the best and the silky fabric feels incredible against my skin.
Though it hugs every curve of my body, for the first time possibly ever, I don’t hear the voice.
I don’t feel self-conscious. I feel…beautiful.
“Thanks,” I say, looking at them both in the mirror. “Thanks for making me do this. I do feel pretty.”
“Mother knows best,” Dani says, patting my cheek.
“Please say we can do your hair and makeup too,” Ty says. “Please. It’ll be so fun!”
“Sure,” I say. “Why not.”
I learn why not a few hours later as I’m poked and prodded and plucked to within an inch of my life. I have hot rollers as big as soda cans in my hair and what feels like six layers of makeup on my face.
I have no idea what I look like because they refuse to allow me to look in the mirror until they’re done, but I feel ridiculous.
In my lap, my phone alarm sounds, alerting me to the fact that Josh and I should be leaving the hotel right now, and I’m not even dressed yet.
“How much longer?” I ask, silencing the alarm and trying not to stress out. I hate being late. I would rather be so early that I have to awkwardly loiter than show up late and have to explain myself. Or worse—cause everyone to stare at me as I walk into the room.
“Ten minutes,” Dani says, stepping back and studying the shadow she’s applying to my eyes.
My phone goes off again, and I look down to see a text from Josh asking where I am. I let him know I’m with the girls and that I’ll be ready in ten minutes.
Dani gives me a final once-over, then throws up a dramatic chef’s kiss just as Ty starts pulling rollers from my hair and brushing it out like she’s prepping me for the red carpet.
Dani follows up with a mist of setting spray to the face while Ty unleashes a cloud of hairspray over my head, and I do my best to hold my breath and try not to inhale enough product to knock me out.
I move to turn and look in the mirror but they both yell “No!” at the same time and usher me from the bathroom to the bedroom to help me into the dress.
When I argue that I’m fully capable of dressing myself, they wave me off and start removing my clothes and pulling the dress over my head like I’m a life-size Barbie.
I shove my feet into the strappy gold heels Ty found on clearance and grab my clutch from the dresser.
“Can I look now?” I ask. “Or is this one of those nights where I’m just supposed to blindly trust the glam squad and hope for the best?”
Dani has a hand pressed to her chest and Tyler looks one blink away from full-on tears. You’d think I was about to walk down the aisle, not just step out for the night.
“Guys?”
“Go look,” Dani says. I cross the room to the mirror on the wall by the door and am stunned into silence at what I see in front of me.
“Holy shit,” I say, stepping closer to the mirror. I don’t even recognize the reflection staring back at me. I have never been this made up in my life. It’s unfamiliar and startling and I look…kind of incredible. Like a 1950’s Hollywood starlet. Like Jessica Rabbit in a green dress.
I look back at Dani and Ty, who are still rooted in place at the foot of the bed. “Thank you. This is…unexpected.”
Dani smiles and crosses the room to pull me into a hug.
“The best things in life usually are,” she whispers.