Free Lavender Lipstick Lies: A Mystery of Makeup & Mayhem by Mary Maxwell Page A

many
painful memories,” she complained. “I haven’t been that sloppy drunk since then.
Now that you brought it up, I’m having flashbacks of how many times I got sick
throughout that night.”
    Bree squealed. “Change the subject,
please!” She wobbled her head dramatically. “Nobody needs to hear that kind of
stuff, Em. It might foreshadow something horrible that might happen to one of
us.”
    I caught her eyes as they flashed
in my direction briefly. It was the same mysterious way she’d looked at me a
time or two before, especially when she introduced me to her friend Amanda
Woodworth earlier.
    “Listen, you guys,” Emma said. “I
want to catch the Festival Fountain show, okay? I’m going to head over there
now.” She smiled at both Bree and me. “So, Abby, you’re welcome to join me. Or
you can go overspend on skimpy undies with Bree.”
    The mention of sexy lingerie
instantly reminded me of the scene with my husband and the mysterious blonde.
Emma saw me flinch and apologized immediately.
    “That’s ancient history by now,”
Bree said. “If Robert told you there was nothing going on, I guess you should
believe him.” She narrowed her eyes and lowered her voice. “Although men can be
dogs sometimes,” she added. “Even someone as wholesome and honest as your husband,
Abby.”
    With that final pronouncement, she
gave us a little wave and promised to find us later during the fountain show.
I’d heard it was a spectacular display of lights, sound effects and animated
statues, so I decided to join Emma.
    As we strolled down the corridor, I
asked if she’d noticed the odd comment from Bree.
    “You mean the one about your
husband possibly being a secret cheat?”
    I nodded. “It was pretty obvious,
wasn’t it?”
    Emma stopped and put one hand on
her hip. “Are you kidding me?” she demanded in a lighthearted way. “Bree is
obviously up to something. Since you mentioned it, I’ve been watching her and
listening to her tone. I can’t put my finger on it yet, but that girl is
definitely acting weird.”
    I felt a wave of relief wash over
me. “Thank you for saying that,” I told Emma. “I was starting to think that I
was losing my mind.”
    She shook her head. “Nope. You’re
not losing your mind. I totally could tell that Bree isn’t the same cheery
girl. Actually, like I already told you, I detected something different when I
ran into her last week.”
    “When she was with Amanda?”
    Emma nodded. “Yes, when they were
having lunch. And, to be honest, there were a couple of times lately when Bree
seemed to be short with me.”
    “How do you mean?”
    “Oh, you know,” Emma answered,
turning to continue our walk. “Just when I asked her a couple of questions and
she snapped. Or when she sounded curt on the phone. That’s so not Bree.”
    We walked without talking for a few
minutes, drifting slowly through the crowd. There were hordes of tourists,
chattering and taking selfies and comparing their recent purchases. At Sephora,
I stopped briefly and gazed through the window at the displays of cosmetics
before Emma grabbed my arm.
    “Don’t even think about going in
there,” she said cautiously. “You wouldn’t want any of the other Splendora
consultants seeing you snooping around the competition!”
    We giggled our way past the rest of
the shops, arriving in the Great Hall as artificial lightning sparked across
the ceiling and the loudspeakers boomed with thunderous sound effects.
    “Okay, keep your eyes on the
statues,” Emma said, nearly shouting above the cacophony. “They’re going to—”
And the center statue began to speak in a deep voice as he spun around in a
swirl of fog. “—well, they’re going to start moving,” Emma finished. “I guess I
should shut up now.”
    We stood together in the crush of
shoppers and tourists as the show continued in a chorus of theatrical music,
voices and effects. It reminded me of things I’d seen at Disney World in