Read Online Outside In by Sarah Ellis - Free Book Online

found your look,” said Shakti. “Junior high corporate.”
    â€œI think it’s more like espionage,” said Jean. “It would go nicely with a foggy night and a cigarette in a cigarette holder. Oh, crikey, sorry. I know I’m not supposed to glamorize smoking.” One of the cracks in Jean’s armor of goodness was that she was a die-hard smoker.
    â€œOn that subject …” She looked outside longingly.
    â€œGo,” said Shakti.
    The clerks then applied themselves to Shakti, glamming and accessorizing, dressing up and dressing down. Between outfits they became Amanda and Jasmin, Shakti’s new best friends.
    The final choice was a dark gray pencil skirt with a silver-gray jacket. The collar of the jacket stood up, framing her face.
    â€œWe’ve been just waiting for the perfect person for that jacket,” said Amanda.
    â€œYes,” said Jasmin. “That is going to take you anywhere you want to go.”
    Amanda gave an appraising look. “Can it handle pearls, do you think?”
    â€œAbsolutely,” said Jasmin, draping a necklace over Shakti’s head.
    She looked … Lynn stepped outside herself for a moment and admitted it. She looked stunning.
    â€œOkay,” said Amanda. “Give us your best CEO look.”
    Shakti did a little pout thing with her mouth, tossed her head back and said, “By all means move at a glacial pace. You know how that thrills me.”
    Amanda exploded. “Miranda Priestly in Devil Wears Prada !” She and Shakti did a little squirmy happy dance.
    Jasmin caught Lynn’s eye, smiled, shrugged and shook her head.
    â‰ˆâ‰ˆâ‰ˆ
    There were two kinds of pie — rhubarb-strawberry and something called sunburnt lemon. Lynn had both kinds.
    Jean and Shakti tried on their outfits and Rob said they looked beautiful and scary.
    â€œShould we shave our legs?” asked Jean.
    Shakti propped one leg up on a footstool. “I think so. It’s the least we can do if we really want to topple the corporate superstructure.”
    Jean snorted. “Remember that cabaret thing we were in back in the day, body hair the last frontier?”
    Lynn stood up and gathered dishes. Some conversations you just didn’t want to overhear.
    She rinsed the plates, ate one more sliver of sunburnt lemon and looked around the kitchen, almost as familiar as her own. She looked at the collage of the corkboard. Meetings, fundraisers, petitions, political flyers, photos of foster kids who had passed through. Clutter, projects, memories, things happening and about to happen.
    It was like the cottage.
    The voices drifting in from the other room got louder.
    â€œShaving your legs is not the same as shaving off my beard. I refuse.”
    There was a chorus of friendly argument followed by Rob bellowing, “Why, why, why, Delilah!” Next thing was the tinny sound of music.
    â€œLynn! Come back. Stop working. You’re missing Tom Jones.”
    The three were crowded around the laptop where some grotesque guy was singing a song about stabbing his girlfriend, backed up with an oompah-pah band.
    â€œThey’re coming to get him because he murdered her, right?” said Lynn.
    â€œNo,” said Rob. “They’re coming to arrest him because of his sideburns.”
    Shakti grabbed a rolled-up magazine and started to lip-sync.
    â€œYou’re good at that,” said Jean. “You completely get the look. Regret and guilt combined with the pain of acid reflux.”
    â€œI missed my calling,” said Shakti.
    Lynn wondered for a moment if it might be true. Shakti at her best, charming Amanda and Jasmin, wearing the corporate look as though she did it every day, being Tom Jones — that Shakti just disappeared in muddle and mess. Was there a calling she had somehow missed?
    Lynn pulled herself together. What was she doing, trying to explain her mother? It was a waste of time, a waste of brain