14
Alice
“Oh my goodness,kiddo! How do you feel?”
Nellie fans out her fingers, showing off her manicure, and tosses a neat ringlet over her shoulder. “I feel really pretty.”
Joy radiates from the little girl, her confidence rocketing sky high after two hours of pampering. Her toes are painted to match her fingers, and she just spent the past thirty minutes in the stylist’s chair getting her hair washed and curled. The smile showing off her missing tooth is bigger than I’ve ever seen.
“You look absolutely beautiful, sweetheart.”
An ache splits my chest. The honor of being present for this moment is not lost on me, as a woman who missed many moments of connection with my mother. I’m not looking to replace the woman who gave birth to this precious little girl, but if I can offer her even a brief respite from missing something so profound, I’ll treasure it.
“Can we get my dress on now?”
I check my watch, swiping away the three missed calls that came in while we were being pampered. My stomach turns.Sooner or later, I’m going to have to confess this problem to Sutton. I can admit to myself I’m scared. Not of Jake Lanighan. I’m scared of how Sutton will react. What his reaction will mean for me and this job and my life here.
Not tonight, though.
Tonight, we have other more pressing plans.
“Let’s do it.” I hold out my hand for a fist bump.
Nellie crashes her little knuckles against mine, making an explosion sound with her mouth.
“You both are all set.” The receptionist smiles at me from over her computer.
There must be a misunderstanding. I was expecting a bill in the two- to three-hundred-dollar range.
“I didn’t pay yet.” I hold out my wallet as if my intention wasn’t already clear.
“Looks like someone called in and took care of the bill for you.”
My throat tightens. “For both of us?”
“That was the instructions.”
“How the hell did he pull that off?” The rhetorical question meant only for me reaches the receptionist’s ears.
“He called about an hour ago and added a card to the account. Gratuity included.”
“Okay well, that was nice,” I mumble in a bit of a fog.
Does Sutton know how much salon services cost? Let alone three separate services for two people? Probably not. Which means that charge may have been way more than he budgeted for. I’ll have to stop at an ATM after the dance and pull out some cash. Or ask him to take my half out of my next paycheck. If I had known he was footing the bill, I wouldn’t have gone all out. I’d have gone half out. Maybe three-quarters.
“Bye Whit, bye Lucy. See you girls at the dance.”
Lucy pulls her sucker from her mouth to say goodbye. Whitney waves through the mirror of her stylist’s booth. The door chimes as I open it for Nellie, and we climb into my car at the curb.
The drive to my house to pick up my dress is only a few blocks. I didn’t want to leave it in the car to get wrinkled.
Nellie skips up the concrete pavers to my front porch and smushes her face against the pane of glass beside my screen door.
“I’ve never been to your house before.”
“You can tell me what you think of it.”
My keys rattle against the door as I twist the gold one in the lock. Nellie ducks in beneath my arm as soon as the latch clicks.
