Page 37 of All Because I Found You

“You know I’m not lying.”

“I know, which is why I can’t with you.”

Hal, the local Alice Cooper impersonator amongst many other things, including town photographer, came up to them. His long hair was pulled in a ponytail, and he held up a DSLR camera. “Smile, ladies.”

Raelyn flashed a smile while Cindy turned her entire body. One thing about posting pictures for a living, Cindy knew exactly how to pose to always get the perfect shot. Raelyn didn’t even want to know what she looked like.

“Beautiful,” Hal said. “Want to see?”

Raelyn was about to say no when Cindy interrupted her and walked over to Hal. She peered down at his screen and smiled. Cindy pressed her lips together, head flopping back and forth, but before she could convince Hal to take a million more shots, Raelyn peered over at the screen.

“Looks great, Hal.”

Cindy opened her mouth like she was going to argue, but Raelyn laughed it off.

“It’ll be on the town website, right?” she asked.

“You bet. I’ll have it uploaded by tomorrow morning.”

“Great!”

“Before you go.” Hal reached into his back pocket and pulled out a stack of papers. He unfolded them and handed Raelyn one from the top.

It was a flyer with Hal in full Alice Cooper makeup and costume with the dates to his next shows.

“I hope to see you at one of them or all of them.”

“I will definitely make one of the shows,” Raelyn said, and when Hal’s face brightened, she gave a friendly nudge in Cindy’s ribs.

Cindy’s head popped up. “I’ll try my hardest.”

“Right on. That’s awesome. I look forward to it.”

Hal all but skipped away, and Raelyn shoved the flyer in her bag. “His shows are always fun.”

“Except for the time he got my dad on stage while singing School’s Out, and my dad proceeded to dance like no one was watching except the entire town was there.”

“It was funny.”

“It was mortifying.”

“It was the last day of school he was celebrating.”

“He could have kept those dance moves to himself. I’ll never be able to unsee them.”

It hadn’t been as bad as Cindy remembered it being. If anything, that night at McConnell’s Pub was pretty epic.

Tap. Tap. Tap. The sound echoed from the microphone at the front of the cafeteria. Raelyn and everyone in the cafeteria turned their attention there.

“Hi everyone.” Lillian, the owner of Lillian’s closet, a local clothing boutique, stood at the microphone. “Make sure to grab your tickets and start entering. The raffles will be closed in thirty minutes. Thank you.”

Raelyn motioned toward the tables of raffles. “Let’s go check out what’s for grabs.”

“Hey, Cind!” Olivia’s voice carried over the many conversations going on and gave a wave when Cindy and Raelyn spotted her.

“Looks like we found your sister.”

Olivia’s heels clacked on the tile floor as she made her way toward them. Her Louis Vuitton Twist MM bag hung from her shoulder. Raelyn had admired the bag the first time she’d seen it, and Olivia never went anywhere without it. Her chestnut colored hair sat in waves on her shoulders and bounced with her steps.

---