Forever In My LIFE (Book 4) 2nd Alternate

Part 67

When we get back into the Atrium, Kim is sitting next to Kirk on a sofa with Ramiel in her arms, they're in deep conversation.  This is short lived, though,  when Ramiel spots us round the corner from the elevator, he pushes her hands away and scoots to the floor to meet us.  Prince stretches his arms out first and Ramiel runs to him, and he's lifted again. 

Kim stands, "Are you ready?" she asks me. 

"No," I answer truthfully. 

Her hands go to her hips, "Come on, now.  Get!" Kim playfully shoos me toward the salon like a wayward child.  

Once she has me there, she's all business.  An apron is secured around my neck and she starts in on my hair, "Tsk, tsk, tsk, the both of you, I swear."  She spins the chair around to look me in the eye, "Just cuz you guys got a child don't mean you let yourselves go.  Ugh, you have just as much gray as he did," she sighs.  That's why he looked more polished, I think to myself, Kim had already had worked her magic. 

After a good hours worth of work, my grays are gone and the fresh trim has livened up my curls, I'm surprised by how much better I look.  Just as I'm smiling at my reflection, Prince strolls in with Ramiel.  "He's been fed," I'm notified before he drops off a small plastic sandwich bag full of tiny pretzels at Kim's work station.  Kim frowns at the pretzels, then looks at me, she's seen this before, the bashful grin that surfaces on my face reaffirms her speculation. 

"It's none of my business," she laughs and pretends to act casual as she fiddles with my curls.  "Okay, I need you to get your dress on, then I can do your makeup." 

I look at Prince and he points to a garment bag hanging across the room, on the floor beside it, sets a smaller boutique type bag. Kim removes the apron and I take the bags into the small changing room.  I find new lingerie in the small bag, and a stunning, yet quite conservative, sapphire blue lace dress.  A sigh of relief escapes my lips when the dress fits perfectly, for now anyway, the voice in my head reminds me. 

When I step out of the changing room, Prince sets Ramiel down, and eyes me appreciatively, coming around to zip my dress.  He quickly takes Ramiel's hand and leads him to another salon chair where he sprays some product on his short cropped curls, working it in while Kim gets started on my makeup. 

When I'm done, Ramiel studies me, it's very unusual for him to see me with this amount of makeup on. His reaction to me is very similar to when he first saw Prince before a performance, it's us, but different.  My stomach flips and I grab my bag of pretzels, slipping one carefully into my mouth before we head out of the salon.

I don't pretend to hide my surprise when I see the flurry of activity in the Atrium. Two armchairs have been positioned together at the top of Prince's symbol on the floor, backed by a couple large potted plants.  Beside the plants, tall candle stands are being brought into place, giving the area a cozy feel. Several men are working with large screens, trying to block out some of the daylight pouring through the front entrance windows as more candle stands are placed around the perimeter.  Between the entrance door and facing the two armchairs, there's two rows of metal folding chairs set up in an arch. 

Prince looks unhappy, "We may have to wait until dusk, this is not what I had in mind."  Monica's eyes widen and she rushes to her desk, I'm sure she has some damage control to do if Prince is changing his mind about the time for the press conference. When the men finally get the screens in place, the now dimly lit area is deemed acceptable and Monica scurries off to her desk again.   "Come on," Prince leads me by the elbow and the three of us abandon all of the preparation and chaos as we enter the galaxy room.  I set Ramiel down and take a seat on the sofa, Prince joins me and we watch him spin in the center of the room as he eyes all the glowing stars.  "You doing okay?" Prince asks in a whisper.