Her Immortal Love Read Online Free Page B

just old, but discarded and cast-off. Traded in for a younger, sleeker model.
    “All I see is a woman,” Elaine said. “And he's a man. What else is there to see?” She turned back to her magazine and flipped through the glossy pages.
    “It's not that simple,” Lydia said.
    Elaine snorted. “That's for sure. Especially if you’re going to make it more complicated than it has to be.”
    “What do you mean?”
    Elaine looked up from her magazine. “I know exactly what you're thinking. He's not only gorgeous and sinfully sexy but he's younger. So what? You're attracted to him, aren't you?”
    “Well, I hardly know him but, yes, I am attracted to him.”
    “And what did he say when you found him. Or he found you. Whichever.”
    Lydia smiled, remembering. “He said he knew we were going to see each other again. That it was fate.”
    “Well, there you are,” Elaine said. “What more do you want?”
    She stared at Elaine. What more did she want? How about her being ten to fifteen years younger? Or, while they were at it, five, maybe ten pounds lighter? And, since they were on a roll, how about her not being afraid that the minute she opened her heart it wasn’t going to be ripped into a million pieces?
    “You going to see him again?”
    Lydia nodded, but she wasn’t as excited about it as she had been. Reality had hit her like cold water. She nervously fidgeted with a small amethyst crystal. “He's stopping by when I get off from work.”
    “What?” Elaine glanced at the clock. “That's only an hour from now. You better get ready.” She slapped the magazine closed and stuffed it beneath the counter.
    “Get ready? For what?”
    Elaine moved towards the back room. “For your date. What else?”
    She returned with her large cloth handbag. She tossed it on the counter, dug around in it and finally pulled out a clear plastic bag. She pointed to the stool behind the counter. “Sit down.”
    Lydia hesitated as she had no idea what Elaine was up to.
    The younger woman frowned and pointed again at the stool. “Sit!”
    Lydia sat.
    Elaine emptied the contents of the plastic bag onto the glass counter; bottles of foundation, silver tubes of lipstick and an assorted pile of makeupy things.
    Lydia suspiciously eyed it. “What's all that?”
    Elaine picked up an eye-pencil and moved it toward her face.
    She jerked back. “What are you doing?”
    Elaine released an exasperated sigh. “Fixing your face. What does it look like I'm doing?”
    “Fixing my face? Is something wrong with it?”
    “Ha, ha. You're so funny. Actually, you have very beautiful skin. And your coloring is great.”
    “My coloring?”
    “That auburn hair, those honey-colored eyes, your warm skin tone.” Elaine nodded. “You're definitely an Autumn.”
    “Autumn? What does that mean? I'm old?”
    Elaine laughed. “No, silly. It's your coloring. Now be still.”
    Cupping Lydia's chin, Elaine carefully lined her eyes with the eye-pencil.
    “What if a customer comes in?” Lydia asked.
    Elaine shrugged. “We'll just tell 'em we're demonstrating new makeup.”
    “But we don't sell makeup.”
    Elaine only shrugged again.
    “Why did Tristan come into the store?” Lydia asked.
    Elaine was peering intently at her face. “To pick up an order.”
    “What order?”
    “Don’t know. A piece of jewelry I think. He’d already pre-ordered and paid on it. I just handed the box over to him.”
    “Has he been here before?”
    “A few times.”
    “What does he buy?”
    Elaine screwed up her face as she remembered. “Books.”
    “What kind of books?”
    “Books on alchemy.”
    “Alchemy?” There was a section in the store on alchemy, but Lydia didn’t know much about the subject.
    “Don’t ask me why alchemy. An interest of his, I guess.”
    For the next few minutes Elaine continued to, as she called it, fix Lydia's face. When she was done, she stepped back and inspected Lydia like an artist admiring her latest creation. Then she smiled and