What I Love About You Read Online Free Page B

sides and she had white spiky bangs. Anyone else might run the risk of looking ridiculous, but only someone with Lilah’s style could pull off the dominatrix-iguana look in conservative Truly.
    “She kept shaking her bony finger and yelling, ‘More smoky eye.’ ” Lilah was a talented cosmetologist who worked at the Cutting Edge salon across the street and moonlighted as a makeup artist. When Natalie booked a glamour shot, she always sent the customer to Lilah first. Not only because Lilah was her best friend, but because Lilah had worked for several Hollywood stylists with long lists of celebrity clients. She’d worked in Los Angeles for the rich and famous for over ten years, and if not for an unfortunate incident involving a starlet, a strapless Alexander McQueen gown, and a pair of scissors, Lilah would no doubt still be in Hollywood with her own celebrity list. “She wouldn’t listen to me,” Lilah added.
    Natalie knew what her friend meant. Working with Mabel and all her demands had been a test of her patience, but at least she’d talked the woman out of posing completely naked on top of her floor-length mink coat.
    “Fred’s going to take one look at these and stroke out.”
    “Maybe that’s the idea. It’s the perfect crime.” Natalie had known Mabel most of her life. Mabel had been friends with Natalie’s grandmother Joan, until Joan’s death two years ago. Grandmother Richards had always said Mabel was a character, which meant she was opinionated and bossy and the best snoop in Valley County. As a kid, Natalie had hid behind her grandmother’s sofa and listened to such juicy gossip as the questionable paternity of the Porters’ latest grandbaby or who in town was drinking like a lake trout.
    A dull ache stabbed between Natalie’s eyes as she gazed at the boudoir shots Mabel had taken for her ninety-year-old husband, Fred. “I hope she’s happy with these.” If not, Natalie would have to reshoot them, but the thought of Mabel dressing up in corsets and kitten heels again caused the stab in her head to sink further into her brain. It wasn’t just that Mabel was a difficult woman and customer, she had bad taste. And a customer’s bad taste reflected poorly on Natalie’s business.
    “What’s she wearing on her feet?” Lilah asked as she scrunched up her pretty face.
    “My fifty-dollar kitten heels that I had to cut up and tape back together so they’d fit her. She said she was retaining water, but that woman has the biggest feet I’ve ever seen.”
    Lilah leaned in for a closer look. “They look like Nutty Professor feet.”
    Natalie carefully gathered up the photographs and slid them into a photo envelope. “When I was pregnant, I had Nutty Professor feet.” Behind her, the commercial printer cranked out pictures and fed them into slots. The hum and whirr was money to Natalie’s ears.
    “When you were pregnant, you had the Nutty Professor everything.”
    And it had taken a year to get back to her normal one hundred and twenty pounds. Okay, one hundred and twenty-five. Most of the time. “I had water weight.”
    “You gained Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup weight.”
    “And macaroons.” She picked up the photo envelope and moved to her office a few feet away. Two years ago, she’d taken out a loan for the used digital printer. Just as with brick and mortar stores like Walgreens or CVS, or online photo sites like Shutterfly or Snapfish, anyone with Internet access could upload photos to the Glamour Snaps and Prints Web site. Customers could order regular prints or special order their pictures on anything from birthday cards and magazines to catalogues and canvas panels. “One hour or it’s free” was her slogan for residents of Truly.
    She charged ten cents a print for four-by-six pictures and more for larger sizes. Between her digital print business and her own photography, she made a fairly good living. She wasn’t rich, but she supported herself and Charlotte.
    She tossed