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"Oooo, how about this top? Perfect color with your complexion!" I held up a ridiculous lacy fuchsia blouse and spun it awkwardly from the hanger. Nearby patrons glanced over, chuckling as I modeled my best catwalk poses strutting down the aisles that now served as my runway.
"Too flashy for middle school dances," Hailey giggled. "What about this sweater?" She grabbed a fluffy off-white turtleneck buried behind jumbled sale items. It looked like a goose long since put out of its misery.
"Gorgeous! Super Parisian chic!" I declared in an exaggerated snooty accent. Hailey cracked up, exaggeratedly swanning herself.
We kept trying on clothes, modeling for each other, and laughing. Eventually, Hailey found a classy yellow dress she really liked. When she tried it on, she wrapped her arms around herself, standing uncomfortably in front of the floor length mirror, bashful the way so many young girls are.
"You are beautiful no matter what you wear, Hails. What matters is that you are comfortable. You could even go to the dance in sweats. All that matters is that you are happy."
She smiled and relaxed her arms, taking herself in. A grin spread on her face. "I love it."
"Then it's perfect."
We got the dress and then went to get our nails done.
“But you didn’t pick out a dress,” Hailey gasped as we walked into the nail salon.
I waved her off. “I’ll just order something. Nothing in that store called out to me.”
After having our hands properly pampered, we popped into the diner for a quick dinner before catching the movie at six.
We had just placed our orders when Georgia Buchanan came over. "It looks like you two are missing your third."
I smiled. "Jake's having a guy’s weekend out of town. So, we're having a girls’ one."
"That sounds like fun. My, my, I can't think of the last time Jake went out of town and left Hailey with someone else. Any idea, Shirl?" she called to our waitress who was wiping down the bar.
"I don't think he ever has."
I had to laugh. There was very little in this town that happened without everyone knowing.
"You are good for him, dear. And Hailey. She’s been so happy since you've come around."
I smiled, feeling slightly awkward, but the contented smile on Hailey's face put me at ease. "Thanks."
"I think I hear wedding bells. What about you, Shirl?" the older woman crooned and I cringed.
"Oh, it's a bit soon for all that." I said and was grateful that the cook appeared in the window and rang his little bell before setting our burgers and fries out for Shirley.
Georgia just looked at me, wiggled her brows and said, "See? Weddings bells." She shuffled away and Hailey and I giggled as Shirley put our food on the table.
"I now pronounce you burgers and fries. You may eat your food," Hailey said in her best imitation of a minister and we ate with laughter. A slight unease prickled in my stomach, though, as I worried about what Hailey must think. If she had asked me right then, if I thought I was going to marry her father, I had no idea what I would have said. Probably played dead like a possum.
Thankfully she didn’t and before I knew it we were off to the movies.
---
Hailey beamed grasping my arm as she rehashed the movie we just watched. "Best twist EVER!"
She wasn't wrong. Not even I saw that ending coming. Hailey's hand on me felt different now. Warm? Precious? I’m not sure I could even describe it.
I had never thought of myself as a maternal person, although people often think of teachers as motherly. The reality is not really like that. Teachers are a bit more objective than a parent might be. Or at least that’s what I assumed. I could sense my feelings for Hailey shifting and I wondered if this is what it felt like to be a mother, or at least a step-mom.
Rounding a corner wrapped in our easy banter, Hailey froze abruptly, her brilliant smile dimming as a statuesque woman stood in our path. Even without ever having seen her, I knew with one hundred percent certainty that it was Natasha. The resemblance between Hailey and this woman was astounding. I doubted that Jake had passed any of his genetics to her.
Natasha continued to block our path. Seconds or minutes passed. I couldn’t be sure. She wore an inscrutable expression that inexplicably raised every protective maternal hackle I didn't even know I possessed. Her venomous gaze bore into me, her eyes lacking all the warmth of Hailey's. Hailey dropped my hand, stepping toward the woman as if she was a specter. "Mom?"
"Hi, Hailey," Natasha said, her voice devoid of emotion.
