style?”
“Yes,” Amber said excitedly. “You’ll be representing all of us and we want you to look good.”
Opal glanced around the table at everyone. “Meaning?”
It was Ruby who answered. “Meaning, in the morning, we will be picking you up for a day of beauty.”
Opal frowned. “A day of beauty?”
“Yes,” Paige said smiling. “You’re getting the works.”
Opal narrowed her eyes. “Define the works. ”
Ruby waved her hand. “You know, everything. New clothes, a new do, nails, pedicure, the works.”
Opal leaned back in her chair. “And what if I don’t want the works?”
Colleen chuckled. “Sorry, babe, you’re outnumbered. The six of us will enjoy a wonderful dinner together tonight and tomorrow we split up and take turns making sure you have the works, starting with me and Ruby tomorrow morning. We’re taking you shopping. Then at noon we’ll turn you over to Pearl and Amber. You have an appointment with a hair stylist. And then Paige will get you to the spa for a manicure and pedicure.”
Opal glanced around the table at everyone. She had known her sisters and cousins long enough to know that, when they got together and made up their minds about something, there wasn’t any changing them. “Okay, fine, but just as long as you know I’m not going to like it,” she grumbled. “I’m going to be miserable.”
Colleen smiled. “You might be miserable, sweetheart, but the five of us will have the time of our lives, and I have a feeling by Saturday afternoon you will be thanking us.”
Opal doubted it.
Chapter 6
“Y ou look simply beautiful, Opal.”
Opal glanced over at Amber and saw the tears in her sister’s eyes before she looked at herself in the mirror. She wasn’t sure she looked beautiful, but she certainly looked different.
She noted her other two sisters and cousins staring at her, too, and she said jokingly, “Hey, what was I before? An ugly duckling?”
Ruby spoke up. “No, but I got so used to seeing that friggin’ ball on your head that I’d forgotten what beautiful hair you have. This style certainly highlights it. It definitely becomes you.”
Opal glanced back in the mirror. Yes, it certainly did and the change in her hair would be the one thing she’d have to get used to the most. Long, luxurious medium-brown hair flowed down her shoulders in soft feathered waves. She even had bangs, something she’d never worn before. They stopped on her forehead just above her newly arched eyebrows.
But what really stood out was the makeup that had been applied to her face. Light, yet at the same time, dashing. Even the shade of lipstick seemed to have been made just for her skin color. Something could definitely be said for a makeover. She might not have been an ugly duckling before, but it was obvious she had never fully capitalized on the assets the good God had given to her. She looked like a totally different person, although she felt the same.
“The only thing left now is your nails and pedicure,” Colleen broke the silence by saying. “And promise me, once you get your nails done, you will stop biting them.”
Opal made a face at her cousin.
“And please,” Pearl threw in, rolling her eyes, “no ugly faces. You’re too beautiful now for that. I can’t wait to see D’marcus Armstrong’s expression when you show up at the airport on Monday morning.”
Opal decided not to mention to her sisters that she and D’marcus wouldn’t be meeting at the airport. He had called that morning to get her address. He would be picking her up at her apartment.
She glanced at her watch. “Okay, the five of you have dominated my entire day. I’m giving you another hour and that’s it.” But Opal had to admit she’d had fun. This was the first time in a long while that she and her sisters and cousins had spent together. Although she had been the victim, she felt it had been worth it and it reminded her of when they had been teenagers and almost
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