rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Listen, Anne, you don’t have to stroke my ego. Jeff is attracted to sophisticated model-types with long legs and collagen lips. We both know I’m no beauty queen.”
Anne threw down her French fry, splattering ketchup on the checkered tablecloth. “That is such bull! You could go up against any woman in this town—or anywhere, for that matter. You’ve got great skin, great cheekbones, great hair—”
“Mousy brown is not great.”
“But it’s thick and shiny, and—”
“Anne, cut it out, okay? I don’t care that Jeff doesn’t notice me.”
“Oh, don’t you?” Anne asked innocently. The silence that followed her question was charged with enough tension to suffocate a mule.
“We’re just friends, and I like it that way,” Allison said, trying her best to sound casual.
“Liar.”
Suddenly Allison found it hard to swallow. She’d nurtured her ridiculous crush on Jeff for years, and no one had ever suspected. Or had they? She’d never said a word to anyone and always acted completely indifferent around Jeff, but Anne was very observant.
“You haven’t mentioned this to anyone, have you?” Allison asked, dying a thousand deaths. Her secret, her precious secret, was out in the open.
“Um, I don’t know how to tell you this, but I don’t have to mention it. Everyone knows.”
Allison thought she was going to throw up. Surely this was just a terrible nightmare. “Everyone?”
“Everyone but Jeff, the lunkhead. I guess he’s so used to women adoring him that he’s oblivious.”
Here, at least, was a shred of hope. “You’re sure he doesn’t know? And nobody’s said anything to him?”
“Not that I’ve heard.”
“Listen, Anne. He can never, never know. Promise me you won’t say anything to Jeff.”
“I won’t. I wouldn’t do that. But, Allison, why can’t he know? In every relationship, someone has to make the first move. Why don’t you just tell him how you—”
“I did that once.”
“When? I thought—”
“In seventh grade. I screwed up my courage and asked him to the Christmas dance at the country club, and he was grossed out by the whole idea.”
“Good Lord, Allie, that was eons ago. He probably doesn’t even remember it.”
“Well, I do.” No sting of rejection had ever hurt so badly.
“You need to try again,” Anne said gently.
“No! Oh, Anne, you don’t know what you’re saying.” Allison scooted out of the booth. The restaurant suddenly felt stifling, suffocating. She had to get out. She threw a twenty-dollar bill on the table and scrambled to her feet, unable to get to the door fast enough.
“Allison, wait,” Anne called, hot on her tail.
In the parking lot outside, Allison stopped and caught her breath. “Anne. I am not Jeff’s type. If he knew I had…feelings for him, it would just make him uncomfortable, and then he’d feel sorry for me, and I can’t be some object of pity, I just can’t. I could never be friends with him again. At least if we’re friends, I can see him.”
“And slowly torture yourself to death. Allison, honey, that’s no way to live.”
“You have another suggestion? Besides making a total fool of myself? I’d have to move, you know. If he rejected me, I’d have to leave Cottonwood forever.”
“Chill out, drama queen.” Anne was walking slow circles around Allison, chin in hand, looking very thoughtful.
“What? Did I spill something on myself?”
“What if I could turn you into ‘Jeff’s type’?”
“Huh? You mean, like, a makeover?”
“Yeah. I’m not trying to hurt your feelings, Allison, but you don’t exactly enhance your good points.”
“You mean because I don’t wear two pounds of makeup and a push-up bra, and tease my hair like Dolly Parton? That’s not me, Annie.”
“I’m not suggesting you do any such thing. But you hide your figure under baggy clothes, and you’ve been wearing the same hairstyle since junior high.”
“I’m comfortable with myself this way.”
“Yeah, because no one notices you. Believe me, I know what I’m talking about because I’ve been there. I was a nerdy law student before I met Wade, remember? Men never looked twice at me. But one crazy night I did myself up like a country-and-western singer and went to the rodeo, and boy, did the men notice.”
“One man in particular,” Allison said with a smile, recalling Anne and Wade’s tumultuous courtship. Anne had settled on an image that was somewhat toned down from the vampy rodeo queen. But Allison had to admit, her friend was a knockout now, when before she’d been easy to overlook. “But I’m just not the girly-girl type,” Allison added.
“You say you want Jeff to make the first move,” Anne said, “but he’s never going to do that if he doesn’t notice you.”
“I could walk down the street stark naked and he wouldn’t notice. I lost sixty pounds—sixty pounds—and he never said a word.”
“That’s because you’re still wearing size sixteen clothes!”
Allison looked down at what she was wearing. “Am I that bad?”
“Frankly, yes! Let me play Professor Higgins. Maybe you’ll like it. If not, there’s nothing lost.”
Allison sighed. “Okay, if you really want to. But it won’t do any good.”
“Maybe not. But there’s a whole sea of men out there besides Jeff.”
ALLISON PACKED and repacked her suitcase, making sure she had everything in her arsenal that she would need for the convention.
Three Miracle Bras in various colors, check.
Garter belt and stockings, check.
Catch-me-kiss-me, four-inch pumps, check.
Little black dress with no back, check.
Two pounds of makeup she’d sworn she wouldn’t wear, but which made her look like a supermodel so she’d changed her mind, check.
Clingy tops two sizes too small, and pants that showed her belly-button, check.
Dangly jewelry, check.
Contraceptive
