Free Granted Wishes (The Granted Series Book 1) by Tanya Vought

asks, sounding enthusiastic.
    “How does that sound?”
    ”Sounds good to me,” Gracelynn says. “Make me as pretty as you are.”
    Kat laughs, grabs some makeup and diligently works on Gracelynn’s face. She applies light foundation, taupe eye shadow, mascara, eye liner and nice light, pink lipstick on her lips. When she’s done, she smiles and beams with true happiness.
    “I guess that means I’m all done and ready to be rocking the town?”
    Kat lifts her eyebrows. “I don’t know about rocking, but I’m sure every man will be getting a rockin if you catch my drift.”
    Gracelynn laughs. “Kat, what’s wrong with you?”
    “Nothing, but I grew up in a household full of men. What can I say? They rubbed off on me.”
    They all laugh until Mara twirls Gracie around to look in the full-length mirror.
    “What’s wrong, Gracie? I’m sorry if you don’t like it. I’m sure I can style it a different way if you don’t like it.”
    “No, that’s not it. It’s gorgeous. I’ve never had my hair styled like this. It’s amazing.” Her hair is transformed into a medium-length cut with long jagged layers and bags swept off to the side of her face. It’s still long enough to put it up in a ponytail. It’s curled and looks amazing. And then the makeup… wow! She now looks alive, flirty and sexy. The eye shadow Kat applied makes her eyes pop out more than usual.
    As she steps out of the chair and closer to the mirror, a flash alerts her. She turns around to look at Kat, who’s holding her phone up, using it as a camera. “Did you just take my picture? I mean I know I’m pretty and all but I doubt that I’m your type.” She laughs out loud when Kat’s face gets a shocked expression.
    “No, I wasn’t taking your picture. But you’re right though, you’re not my type,” Kat says, catching on with the joke. “I prefer bald, big gut types of guys myself.”
    Gracelynn’s mouth drops open.
    “Oh my God, I’m just teasing,” Kat says. “I like my men tall, dark and handsome, maybe with a tattoo and a bit of bad boy dominance, but hiding a teddy bear heart. I don’t have a boyfriend yet though, but I can always hope and dream about them in the wonderful fabulous books I read.”
    “Oh no, not you too! I love my sexy book boyfriends. I can’t wait until we can chat over them. What about Gabriel, Christian or …” Gracelynn starts rambling off names of characters from the books she’s read.
    “I want to be honest though,” Kat interrupted. “Yes, I did take your photo.”
    “I knew it. Why?”
    “Well…I wanted to take a before and after photo and send it to you. I wanted to show you how beautiful you are, whether dolled up or not,” Kat confesses.
    Oh God. Even thinking about the before photo horrifies Gracelynn. She knows she looked way better now than she had in the last three years, of that she’s certain.
    “Do I want to see the before photo?”
    “You were beautiful before, but this look is fabulous on you. I can see you love it too.”
    “Okay, girls,” Mara interrupts their conversation. ”You’re a complete knock out, Gracelynn. Would you like to join us for dinner?”
    Gracelynn barely knows these ladies, but she feels she can trust them and could easily call them kindred spirits, as Anne of Green Gables would say.
    “I would love to, Mara.” She can’t believe how happy these two ladies made her today. For the first time in a really long time she’s feeling blessed.
    “Okay, let me clean up the mess here first and then we can leave.”
    “Wait, let me pay you for the makeover. How much is everything?” Gracie asks.
    “That will be fifteen dollars,” Mara replies as she sweeps up Gracelynn’s hair from the floor.
    Gracelynn frowns – the price is way lower than she expected. Once Mara is done, she follows the shopkeeper to the counter. “I may have given you a discount,” Mara says with a wink. “Any friend of Kat’s is a friend of mine.”
    Gracelynn smiles,