Read Year of Living Blonde (Sweet Life in Seattle, Book 1) for Free Online Page A

know why you always wear it pulled back.”
    “Because it’s mousy brown and ugly. Not to mention the grays.”
    “So color it. I color mine.”
    “I tried that once, remember? It turned orange.”
    “That henna you did back in high school? You just need to go to a salon and have it done. ”
    Natalie shifts in her seat. “It doesn’t matter, anyway. I need to keep my hair out of the way when I’m baking.”
    “Yeah, but you’re not baking every second. You should dress up more. Show off your assets.”
    “What assets?” Natalie mumbles.
    “You got to work it, sister.”
    “Yeah, well, not all of us are lucky enough to be born beautiful.”
    Lindsay sighs and reaches for her latte. Natalie brought coffee and pastries for them to eat on their stakeout. “I don’t know why you’re always so down on yourself.”
    “I’m not. I’m just realistic.”
    “That’s a bunch of crap. You decided to give up, but I don’t understand why. There’s so much you could do.”
    “Let’s not get into all this right now. I’ve got enough on my mind.” In truth, Natalie is kind of queasy. The thought of seeing Lena is causing her stomach to do flip flops.
    “I can’t believe my axe is still hanging from your front door. What’s it been, over a week now?”
    “No one can pull it out. Peter tried again when he came over to get Chloe, but it won’t budge.”
    “Guess I know how to throw an axe, huh? It usually impresses the high school set when I show them how to sculpt with it.”
    “You use it for that class?” Lindsay participates in a program that teaches school kids about art.
    “Yeah, I do an instant sculpture demo with it.” Lindsay smiles apologetically. “There may have been some resin glue still on the axe. I thought I cleaned it off, but maybe I didn’t get it all. Do you want me to find someone who can help? Oliver might be able to remove it when he gets back.”
    “Don’t worry, at least Chloe’s enjoying it.” In truth, the axe has grown on Natalie too. There is something about it she likes. Probably the fact that it’s annoying Peter so much. “She even decorated it with flowers.”
    “There he is!” Lindsay suddenly points across the street, where they can see Peter talking on his cell phone as he walks to his car. “The eagle has landed at six o’clock!”
    Natalie smiles. This whole thing seems kind of pathetic, but leave it to Lindsay to make it fun.
    “I don’t think he noticed us,” Lindsay says, still watching him, which is something of an understatement since Peter isn’t even facing them as he blabs away on his phone.
    Natalie watches him and her heart sinks. It’s hard to believe he isn’t her husband anymore, not in any real way. He’s like a familiar stranger.
    After he gets into his car, Lindsay starts up the van. It’s louder than Natalie’s van, but despite its beat-up exterior, seems to run just fine. The back isn’t empty and has rolls of canvas material along with a couple of large tripods that Oliver must use for work. The materials shift around as Lindsay pulls out of the parking lot.
    Natalie has to admit, she does a good job keeping pace with Peter. She’s staying a couple of cars back, but they can still see him easily.
    “I wonder where he’s going?” Natalie murmurs.
    “We’re about to find out. Hopefully, it’s to meet Lena.”
    Natalie sighs. “Yeah, hopefully.”
    Lindsay looks at Natalie with sympathy and then reaches out to squeeze her hand. “It’s okay, don’t worry.” Her expression changes into something determined. “We’re going to nail that bitch to the wall.”
    Natalie isn’t sure how to respond to this, but squeezes Lindsay’s hand in return.
    They follow Peter as he gets onto I-5 heading south. He takes the exit for the U-District, which surprises Natalie, since it looks like he’s driving to La Dolce Vita. But instead of going east, he goes west and drives to the Wallingford area. It’s an artsy part of town with