Lindy grabbed one. “What’s this?”
“A lipstick sample I’m currently working on.”
Her eyes lit up. “You’re a cosmetic chemist?”
It surprised me that she was familiar with that term. “I am.”
“I want so much to go into the industry. My dad doesn’t want me to work at Minx, though. He wants me to do something else.”
I found my phone and pulled it out. “Like what?”
“Probably get married to some rich dude.”
“That’s . . .” What was I supposed to say? I was completely on her side, but I didn’t need something I said getting back to her father. He might become part of my life. Especially if he invested in my hypothetical company.
“It’s messed up,” she said for me. “I do have a question for you, though. I’ve noticed with the skin-care products I’ve been using that it seems to be okay to mix AHA and BHA products with hyaluronic acid. Is that true?”
“Yes.” I launched into an explanation as to why they worked together, but it felt like I didn’t need to and she had already done her own research. Few people understood what I did as well as teenage girls on social media. They researched, studied effects over time, analyzed how products interacted with one another, whether the experiment was repeatable, and shared their results.
People who thought science was boring / not part of their lives didn’t realize they were already engaging with it via their skin-and hair-care products.
Lindy asked about my current lipstick, and while I didn’t share any secrets with her, I did give her the basics.
“Can I have one of your samples?” she asked, and I nodded.
“It always helps to have an additional user. You’ll have to let me know what you think.”
“I can’t believe you’re dating Marco.”
“You keep saying that and it might permanently damage my self-esteem,” I said in a teasing way, although it was the truth.
“Usually the girls he goes out with aren’t very bright. You seem like your IQ is higher than your age.”
“The first one who could construct a complete sentence?”
“You have no idea. You’re definitely the first scientist. And a chemist doing interesting experiments? I’m here for it.” She grabbed my phone and added herself as a contact before handing it back to me. “I will definitely follow up with you about the lipstick.”
Her own phone buzzed. She glanced at the screen and then rolled her eyes. “My parental unit is telling me to come take a picture. I have to go.”
“Okay. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.”
She smiled at me and walked away. I noticed her opening the sample and applying the lipstick. I wondered what shade it was. I picked up a knife to look at the shade of my own lips. A neutral rose-ish pink.
I had just placed the knife back when a very tall, thin, and blonde woman appeared in front of me like some kind of apparition. I gasped in surprise.
“Who are you?” the woman demanded.
“Who are you?” I asked back.
“I’m Tracie Kimball. The groom’s mother. I don’t know you. This isn’t an event you can crash. It’s very exclusive.”
Marco’s stepmom. I’d heard so many bad things about her that I’d half expected her to have horns and cloven hoofs. She had that ageless look to her face like she’d had enough Botox and fillers that she could have been anywhere from thirty-five to sixty-five.
“I’m Anna Ellis.”
She looked me over, head to my feet, and I noticed her eyes settling on my neck. I couldn’t help but reach to cover up the hickey from her view.
“Why were you talking to my daughter?” she asked.
Okay, that might have seemed off with me being a stranger. “I’m Marco’s date.”
“My husband’s son?”
I found her phrasing interesting. Not her stepson, her husband’s son. Like there was no relationship between her and Marco.
“Yes?”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “Was that an answer or a question?”
I was starting to feel extremely uncomfortable and could feel sweat breaking out along my hairline. “An answer?”
I put my phone under the table so that she couldn’t see me texting. It was an art form I’d perfected at work so that Jerry wouldn’t know I was sending messages to Catalina.
Glancing down, I made sure I was sending the text to Marco and wrote:
Gondor calls for aid!
A few seconds later, I had a response from him.
And Rohan will answer.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
I had only a moment to wonder how Marco had known the right response to give me before he joined us. He put down a plate in front of me with barely any food on it. Given how long he’d been away getting me something to eat, I’d been expecting a feast.
“Can we help you with something?” Marco asked in an impersonal way, like Tracie was a stranger who had gotten lost.
“Did you really think this was the sort of event to bring a random date to?” she asked with so much venom in her voice, I wondered if I was going to hear her rattle her tail with a warning.
“Anna is my girlfriend.” He leaned down to kiss the top of my head, and I was so on his side in whatever this was that I barely registered that he had actually just kissed me.
Tracie crossed her arms. “The party is special. This is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing.”
“Statistics and history would disagree.”
She made a face that created an actual wrinkle on her forehead. I wondered if she knew about it.
“And Anna is special.” Marco was a much better actor than I’d given him credit for. There was so much sincerity and warmth in his voice. Like he meant it. “There’s no one I’d rather be here with.”
My heart caught at his words, and I could only gaze up at him. He was looking down at me with what felt like affection, and if he’d asked me in that moment to give him the formula for my mood ring lipstick, I might have done it.
Most likely not, but I would have at least considered it.
A man approached us who looked so much like an older version of Marco that I nearly gasped again.
Tracie’s entire demeanor changed from hard to soft. She smiled at her husband and wrapped her arms around him. “I thought I’d lost you.”
Marco’s dad gave one of those grimaces that was supposed to be a smile as Marco introduced us. “Anna, this is my father, Ken. Dad, this is Anna.”
He held out his hand, and I stood up to shake it. “The chemist,” he said. Lindy popped out from behind him, and I figured she had told him.
“She’s the one making the cool lipstick, Dad.”
He made another grimace-smile. “I’d like to hear more about it, if you wouldn’t mind—”
“Actually,” Marco interjected, “Anna has an investment opportunity that you might be interested in.”
I was holding my breath. Literally unable to make my lungs work. Was this happening, right here, right now?
“Call Janine and get on my schedule. In the meantime, you should bring Anna to the house for dinner next week.”
I couldn’t quite make out Marco’s expression, but he turned to me. “My family has a get-together planned, and you’re welcome to come.”