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I fore of me, postmakeover, with scarlet-slashed lips, heavy blue eye shadow, a fake beauty spot glued to ley’s hunting instincts when I blink

"Um That’s really nice of you, Mrs Dinwiddle, but I’ood idea"

"Pssh! Poppycock!" She waves a hand in the air The seed pearls on her headband quiver madly "It’s a capital idea! Don’t you think so, Cameron?"

"Sure We want her to look her best for Michael, don’t we?"

His tone is casual, but his jaw is tight, and his back is stiff Is heme?

Mrs Dinwiddle is vindicated "Exactly!"

"Well, fine If Caood idea" I didn’t e, but it does, and Mrs Dinwiddle is befuddled She looks back and forth between us

"Why wouldn’t he, Ducky?"

Cam and I stare at each other The sudden tension is excruciating I’o back to the way it was before that stupid kiss That incredible, delectable, stupid kiss

Leave it to

"Actually, I was just about to make dinner, Mrs Dinwiddle--"

"No," says Caood night I’ve got things to do"

His tone is like "I’ve got better things to do," and now I’m unreasonably hurt

Without another word, Cam strides out of the kitchen, pulls open h it In a few seconds, his apartodforsaken rap starts up at full voluer inher hem, Mrs Dinwiddle s of her nore him, Ducky Men are children"

I mutter, "Soroider "Nohile ait for Blessica, let’s go through your closet, shall we?"

The evening was about as pleasurable as having ernails pulled off and all my toes smashed with a hammer

By the time Blessica showed up with the makeup kit and another martini for Mrs Dinwiddle, I’d finished the rest of the bottle of hile being subjected to an elderly woman’s shock and horror at the contents of rave the way she carried on Horrified exclaularly heard frousted clucks and muttered choruses of My word

A confidence booster it wasn’t

Then I was treated to the unforgettable experience of having a makeover by a person who’d consumed approximately half a dozen in with Clowns have more attractive makeup By nine o’clock, my face looked like a Rorschach test, and I was drunk and et that kiss out of my head

"What do you think, Ducky?" asked Mrs Dinwiddle at one point, peering over in fu in a play about a Kabuki warrior"