“It looks nice. It looks like that new Dior blush Taylor bought Clara,” Sadie chortled.
“He didn’t buy it,” Clara piped up. “They gave it to him, as he’s going to be the face of their new man perfume.”
“Man perfume?” Hel snorted.
“She’s trying to say aftershave,” Taylor supplied dryly.
“That’s the one!” Clara exclaimed happily, bouncing on her seat.
Sadie’s head swung around to Taylor, and she began to grill him. “Tell me about this advert. Will you be riding a horse?”
“No.” Taylor shook his head.
Hel leaned across to whisper to Frost, “We should sit down. This interrogation will go on for quite some time.” She pulled the chair out for him and got him settled before she squeezed in next to him.
“Will it be moody and black and white?” Sadie asked.
“Probably.” Taylor shrugged.
“Here, let me get that.” Frost reached across the table and grabbed a clean napkin.
Hel’s head swung from watching her friends to Frost. She was puzzled for a moment then she recalled the tomato sauce smeared on her cheek. Before she had time to answer, he reached for her face and was gently wiping at the mess, his fingers brushing her cheek so softly it was barely perceptible. But even that light touch sent goosebumps racing across her skin.
“Thanks.” Hel blushed and dropped her eyes, unsure if she wanted to see what was written in Frost’s green ones.
“Are you taking your shirt off?” Sadie asked.
“Sadie Gwendoline Albright!” Clara exclaimed.
“That’s not my name,” Sadie protested again. “Anyway, we’ve all seen him shirtless already. I watched Superman.” She waggled her eyebrows.
“I know, and I don’t care. Stop trying to make my fiancée take his shirt off again. Get your phone out and look at your pictures of George,” Clara admonished her friend.
Hel’s eyes shot up to Frost when he barked with laughter, and she explained. “This is pretty normal for them. Sadie gets a little over-enthusiastic sometimes and has to be reminded to look at photos of her husband, who, by the way, is fantastic and, despite the slightly pervy questions, she is madly in love with.”
“She’s something alright.” Frost shook his head.
“You would never believe that in work, she is totally straight-laced and the head of the anaesthetic department. As out of work, she’s a menace,” Hel said the last bit loud enough for it to carry across the table to Sadie.
“I heard that!” Sadie called back.
“You were meant to,” Hel said and rolled her eyes.
“Taylor agreed because of the makeup,” Clara explained.
Hel tuned back into the conversation, as surely she had missed something. “Taylor’s modelling makeup?”
Taylor chuckled at this. “No. Dior agreed to send their makeup artists to the wedding for Clara, you bridesmaids and any women who want their makeup done. They’ve been asking me for years to be a brand ambassador, and when they put that on the table, I figured, why not.”
“And they’re making my dress,” Clara said shyly.
“I’m sorry. What now?” Sadie’s head shot up from her phone. “Did you say Dior is making your dress? And I don’t know this why? As your best friend, this sounds like something I should know.”
Taylor answered for Clara. “I only finalised the deal today. I didn’t think it would be possible for them to make a dress in the timeframe we have, so I didn’t say anything to Clara. But it turns out they really wanted me to say yes, so they’re making it happen.”
Taylor had proposed to Clara after the Oscars in March, and they were planning an Australian spring wedding, which didn’t leave them much time.
Clara bounced up and down in her seat in excitement. “Yup.”
