135 - Prom Prep

*L and J – Lynch and Johanson, now Johnson. You can’t change your last initial. I don’t think that Ryder will let us keep changing the name now that we’re all growed up. - Camille*

At Camille’s invitation, Mandy and her parents came over late in the afternoon of the day of prom. To say the least, her parents were surprised when Camille opened the door. Although they had spoken over the phone before, this was the first time that they were meeting face to face.

Internally she rolled her eyes as the other woman gave a small gasp and stated, “Gosh, you’re young.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Camille smiled as she added *and white in her mind. “I met my husband after I moved down here for school.”

It wasn’t a complete lie. They did not actually meet until after she was down here. And it sounded a lot better than the actual truth. Biting her tongue, she imagined the look on the prim and proper woman’s face if she were to give a more accurate description.

“We met when I was sixteen and he had come up with some of his motorcycle club brothers when his late cousin’s shared wife had been shot by their partner’s mother and we were both staying at the motorcycle clubhouse that I was a prospect for, it was also the same club that her two new men were members of. And oh, yeah, the ex-mother-in-law was shot by cops a la Bonnie and Clyde style.”

Camille pictured the woman bursting into flame there in the entryway of the big rental house.

“Mandy, do you know where Nicki’s room is?”

“No, ma’am,” the girl admitted.

“I’ll take you up,” Camille smiled as the doorbell rang again. “Excuse me.” Opening the door again, she found herself looking at a frazzled Shonda. “Hey, are you okay?”

Nodding, she grinned apologetically, “I just hate running late.”

“You’re fine,” Camille assured her as she dragged her makeup and hair cases into the house.

Shonda’s eyes widened as she looked at the staircase that she was going to have to take her cases up.

“It’s just one flight of stairs,” Camille laughed as the light tip tap of dog nails on the floor heralded Tink’s approach.

“Our room is on the third floor and all my furniture is big and bulky,” Camille laughed. “I was just about to take Mandy up to Nicki’s room. You want me to take one of those?”

“Please,” Shonda pleaded.

Grabbing the bigger case, Camille motioned to the stairs, “Come on, ladies.”

She led the way upstairs and halfway up she realized that she had forgotten to introduce everyone. When they reached the second floor landing she moved out of the way and pointed down the hall, “We’ll go that way and around the corner. Second door on the left.”

“Holy shit, your house is big,” Shonda chuckled.

“It is,” Camille agreed. “You’ll have to forgive me, Shonda, this is Mandy and her mom Peggy. Ladies, Shonda will be doing the hair and makeup for tonight.”

“Oh, umm, do I need to pitch in for that?”

“We bartered for tonight,” Camille said as Nicki stepped out of the bathroom in a robe and shower cap. “Is the room ready?”

“Yes, *moeder,” Nicki grinned as she took her shower cap off. “I have your ring lights set up and Darkness brought down the chair from your office.”

“Perfect,” Camille said as she opened the bedroom door.

The girls would be getting ready in the guest room that had less bulky furniture and two rolling adjustable trays were waiting to hold all of Shonda’s tools and makeup. The cases were placed on the bed that was currently covered with a bright blue comforter that Sid had picked out for *her room.

After placing the case on the bed, she turned and opened the closet that already had Nicki’s dress bag hanging in it. Peggy automatically handed her the bag, and it was hung up on the nearly empty bar.

Pointing to the small retro looking refrigerator on the dresser, Camille told them, “There’s water in the fridge, I think that they were able to squeeze six bottles into the little bitty thing. There should be snacks in the top drawer and if you need anything else, just let me know.”

Leaving the cosmetologist and teens in the room, she escorted the other girl’s mom out of the room and towards the stairs. “Shonda will get them all pretty for the dance.”

“Are you sure that I don’t owe you anything?” Peggy asked as they started down the stairs.

“I am a co-owner of a PR company and I’m revamping her website in exchange for her doing this tonight.”

“Oh, well, that works out quite well.”

“Yeah,” Camille agreed. “I’ve done that on several different occasions. Mandy said that you two have an accounting company.”

Peggy nodded, “It was my dad’s, and I inherited it. What do you charge for a website?”

“It all depends on what you want,” Camille answered honestly as they headed towards the sound of masculine voices in the dining room.

Donovan, Peggy’s husband, looked up and smiled at his wife. “Darkness here,” he motioned to the large black man standing near him, “made almost all the furniture in the house.”

Mitch came in with Tink and asked about dinner. With the promise that he got to choose after Vin and Julio came to pick up the girls, he asked if he could play Mario Kart with the uncles. Camille sent a message to the group chat.

When her phone chirped, she smiled at him, “They are over at Priscilla’s house, they’re going to send you an invite.”

He kissed her cheek before running up to the game room. Both women laughed at his antics as the two men go out to see the woodshop.

“Are the uncles your brothers?”

“Some,” Camille answered vaguely before offering a tour of the house. But just as she made the offer, her phone rang with a customer’s number popping up. “I’m so sorry, give me one moment,” she apologized and answered her business line.

“L and J, this is Camille… yes, ma’am. Is the website still working? Okay… No, I understand… Yes, I can add a holiday background and banner, that is not an issue… Miss Sharp, if I do that tonight, I’m going to charge you a minimum of four hours at after-hours, weekend rate. You are looking at a minimum of a $1000 not including the graphics and extra website maintenance, both done at after hour rates… In total? Twenty-five to three, minimum… No, I think you emailing me what you want, and I’ll look at it on Monday is a great idea… Sounds good. Okay, bye-bye.”

“Three thousand dollars to update a website?” Peggy asked with wide eyes.

Camille chuckled, “Three thousand dollars to update a website for the fifth time this week and it has not even gone live yet.”

“What are your rates for services?”

“All my rates are double after hours, but if you want to make an appointment next week, I’ll be more than happy to sit down with you.”