Year of Living Blonde (Sweet Life in Seattle, Book 1) (50 page)

She’s going to enjoy every single moment she can with Anthony.

“TURN AROUND,” LINDSAY
tells her as Natalie comes out from the dressing room with another fancy ball gown. Shopping for a dress to wear to the Science Awards Banquet is like buying her first prom dress. “Mmm.” Lindsay considers her. “I think I like the last one better.”

“This is exhausting. I’m starting to think I should just wear my
Lord of the Rings
hoodie.”

Lindsay laughs. “Don’t even joke about that.”

“Hey, Anthony likes my hoodie.”

“It figures, but I’m not letting you wear it to this banquet.”

“I’ve never been much of a shopper.”

Her sister rolls her eyes. “Cry me a river. You’re going to the hottest party in Seattle with a guy who’s brilliant and gorgeous. Do you know how hard it is to get tickets to this thing? It’s like the Academy Awards or something.”

“Anthony got extra tickets for the afterparty at the university. You and Oliver should come to that.”

“I’ll probably go alone.” Lindsay pulls down another dress for Natalie to try on, “Oliver and I might be breaking up.”

Natalie turns sharply. “Are you dumping him?”

Lindsay shrugs. “I haven’t decided yet, but I’m thinking about it.”

“Why? He’s such a nice guy.”

Lindsay pauses to study her. “You really have changed, do you know that? And in a good way.”

“What do you mean?” Natalie pulls down the side zipper on her dress and steps out of it. She’s wearing a full coverage bra, panties, and shapewear. For trying on dresses even Lindsay agreed shapewear was a good idea.

“When you were still with Peter you would have dismissed Oliver based solely on his appearance. You wouldn’t even have given him a chance.”

“You make it sound like I was a snob.”

“No, but you were way too conservative. You never wanted anyone to color outside the lines. And you acted like all the guys I dated were ex-convicts.”

Natalie pauses. She does remember thinking that about Lindsay’s boyfriends. It seems like a long time ago now. “I think I was too influenced by Peter and his attitudes.”

“Like I said, you’ve changed for the better.”

Natalie shrugs. “Who am I to judge? I’m dating a guy six years younger.”

“That’s so cool. You, of all people, as a cougar.”

“Please don’t use the ‘C’ word around me.” Natalie wiggles into the next dress, an elegant sky-blue gown. She stands in front of Lindsay to be zipped up. “So, why are you dumping Oliver? You’re going to break his heart. I’m pretty sure he’s in love with you.”

“Because I’ve got to ramble, baby.”

Natalie goes over to study herself in front of the full length mirrors. “You’re just like Dad. Never satisfied.”

Lindsay comes over to stand beside her. “Wow, I like this one. That color is amazing on you. Plus it shows off your boobs without looking tacky.”

Natalie examines herself in the mirror, turning this way and that. A frisson of excitement runs through her. Lindsay is right. The color is gorgeous. It’s an elegant dress, and it does show off her cleavage without making her look like a hooker. “This might be the one!” She glances down at the price tag.
Yikes.
But she knew whatever dress she bought would be expensive.

Lindsay inspects her from every angle. “You look amazing. It totally gives you an hourglass figure. Plus, we’ll have fun with your makeup. This color really makes your eyes pop.”

“Do you think Anthony will like it?” And then wishes she hadn’t asked that.
I’m not buying this dress for him, but for me.
At the same time, it’s his big night and she doesn’t want to let him down.

“Are you kidding? He’d have to be dead not to appreciate you in this dress.”

“Thanks.” Natalie smiles and then walks over to grab her phone and check the time. “I should probably get back to work. I’ve been gone longer than I intended.”

“So how are things going with Blair?” Lindsay gathers all the rejected dresses into one pile. “Is she still pissed at you?”

Natalie fingers the band of material around her waist. It’s silky soft, but has some kind of firm support beneath it, too. “I invited her to come dress shopping with us. It’s her day off, but she said she was too busy.”

“Don’t worry, she’ll come around. After all—I did.”

Lindsay doesn’t like how Anthony handled the situation with the bakery, but after seeing how happy Natalie is with him, she’s agreed to give him a chance. Plus, Lindsay liked that he didn’t give up easily—said Anthony might be enough man for her, but that the jury was still out.

The salesgirl who’s been helping them knocks on the dressing room door, and Lindsay opens it to hand her the rejected dresses. “We’re going to get the blue one,” she tells her.

“Wonderful!”

When the door is closed again, Lindsay helps unzip Natalie.

“I hope she does come around,” Natalie says, worried. She knows Blair feels betrayed. What sucks is, Natalie gets it. If the situation were reversed she’d feel the same way, because in Blair’s eyes Natalie is putting a man first. But what Blair doesn’t understand is, she isn’t putting a man first.
I’m putting myself first.
And it’s been a long time since she’s done that. If she’s honest, she can’t remember ever doing it. It feels healthy, like finally having a scab heal over.
I need this.

“We still haven’t watched all the
Star Wars
movies,” Anthony complains. He calls to tell her he wants her in his bed again as soon as possible.

“We watched the two best ones.” They watched the original
Star Wars
and
The Empire Strikes Back,
but the last time they tried to watch
Return of the Jedi,
they couldn’t stop making out. She’s been at his house a lot the past few weeks. They even had a barbecue-slash-star-party with Chloe and Serena. Both girls had a good time and Chloe thought it was cool how Anthony knew so many constellations.

He snorts. “That’s not enough.”

“Are you pouting?”

“Of course I’m pouting. I’m a selfish asshole and I demand satisfaction.”

“I found a dress for the Science Award Banquet.”

“Perfect. Why don’t you put it on and come over here and show me, then I can have some fun taking it off you.”

Natalie laughs and leans back on the couch. She’s going to see a movie with Lindsay and Chloe tonight. And then the rest of the week after work she has salon appointments set up. “Very funny. I’ll call you after the movie, but I’m not coming over.”

He grumbles.

“I saw the article about you in the paper,” Natalie says. The
Seattle Times
had been trying to interview Anthony for ages and Maya finally forced him to speak with them. “I liked it. I never knew you taught astronomy to kids in the Central District. You’re full of surprises.”

“Yeah, whatever. Today’s newspaper is tomorrow’s cat-box liner.”

Natalie can’t believe she ever thought Anthony was full of himself. If anything, he seems to hate being under the spotlight. Not to mention the closer the award banquet gets the worse his mood seems to be.

“I liked that present you left me, Miss Natalie,” he murmurs, changing the subject.

Her face grows warm and she glances around to make sure she’s still alone. “I thought you might.” She left her used panties on his pillow when she was at his house last time.

“You’ll be pleased to know I’ve made good use of it.”

“Did you?” Natalie’s breath catches. “You might have to show me exactly what you did.”

His voice takes on a husky tone. “Only if you show me, too.”

She wonders if she could ever be that bold and thinks with Anthony it’s possible. “Maybe,” she whispers teasingly. “Maybe we’ll show each other.”

There’s a pause. “You’re killing me. I want to see you
now.
”

“We’ll be together this weekend after the banquet.” Anthony booked a room for them at the Olympic Hotel.

He groans. “I don’t know if I can wait that long.”

By Saturday, Natalie has her hair freshly foiled, nails and toenails done, legs and eyebrows waxed, and she’s been consuming nothing but salad and green smoothies all week, determined to look great in that dress.

“I’m tired of eating so healthy,” Natalie complains to Lindsay and Chloe as they help her get ready for the banquet. “Next week I’m having a chocolate pastry every meal along with a bowl of whipped cream for dessert.”

“Your first prom,” Lindsay sighs, putting her hands together. Natalie told her how she keeps thinking of this whole thing like prom, and the notion stuck. “They grow up so fast.”

“How come you never went to prom, Mom? Didn’t you want to go?”

Lindsay just finished blow-drying Natalie’s hair straight. It looks blonde and shiny thanks to the recent foil and the glossing serum she ran through it. Her tackle box of makeup is sitting on the dining room table.

“Nobody asked me. Though looking back on it now, I should have just gone with friends.”

“Yes, you should have,” Lindsay agrees.

“I think prom sounds fun. I hope I get to go when I’m older.” Chloe looks through Lindsay’s tackle box. “And I can’t wait to start wearing makeup.”

“All in good time,” Natalie says. She glances over at the clock. There’s more than an hour to kill before Anthony arrives to pick her up. “And speaking of fun, let’s have some right now. I want to rock out.”

“You do?” Both Lindsay and Chloe look at her with surprise.

Natalie nods. “You guys are always doing it and I’m tired of missing out.”

And before you can say fun-kay, the three of them are dancing to a 70s playlist that Lindsay put together. There’s “Rollercoaster” by the Ohio Players, “Play That Funky Music” by Wild Cherry, and “Sexy Thing” by Hot Chocolate.

Chloe is jumping up and down waving her hands in the air. Lindsay looks like she needs a stripper pole. And Natalie is bumping and grooving her hips to every song.

When the Commodores’ “Brick House” comes on, Natalie starts to laugh. Instead of feeling ill at ease with herself as she has for years, she realizes she’s come to embrace her curves. She decides that being a ‘brick house’ ain’t half bad.

Anthony hears music through the front door when he arrives with the limo to pick up Natalie. “It sounds like the party has already started in here,” he tells Lindsay and Chloe after they let him in.