Looking closer at Amelia’s hair she said, “Well, look at that. Your roots are strawberry blonde. What made you dye your hair so dark?”
“I hated my red hair when I was growing up. I got bullied at school and I just wanted to fit in. As soon as I could, I changed the colour. I’ve been dyeing it black for years.”
“Hmmm. I can see that. It’s not in the best of condition and you’ve dyed your eyebrows too. I can lighten them for you, because they might look a bit strange when your hair is blonde.”
“I never thought of that. That would be wonderful.”
“I will need to strip off all this black colour. Let me get you some magazines while I work my magic.”
As Amelia flicked through the glossy pages, the two women chatted happily. Agnes told her, “I’ve always wanted to visit America. We were going to go to Disneyland years ago when the kids were young, but that awful attack on the twin towers made me too scared to fly over there. We usually just go to Spain or the Canary Islands now. Cheap and cheerful and I come back as red as a fog lamp.”
They spent a happy half hour talking about holidays and then got on to the royal family and the time passed swiftly by. Agnes had given Amelia a deep-conditioning oil treatment, and her hair was now a sort of bizarre salmon pink which they both thought suited her very well, but the plan was to have her hair blonde just like Evie’s.
“I can cut and style your hair and give it a blow-dry now, and you can come back tomorrow for me to finish up with the colour. Any thoughts on the cut?”
“Can you make sure you cut it just like Evie’s. I think her hair looks so incredible.”
Agnes laughed happily. “Although I say so myself, so do I. In fact, she’s due to come in for an appointment soon. I might just give her a ring.”
Amelia said, “Oh I’m sure she said something about going to the hairdressers on the mainland just before Freya’s party. She said she felt her hair needed a proper cut and colour.”
Agnes paused with the hairdryer in her hand. “I don’t think I heard you right there, this thing makes such a racket. Did Evie say she wanted a ‘proper’ cut and colour?”
“I’m sure she didn’t mean it like that,” said Amelia hastily. “I probably picked her up wrong, but I did see her looking up hairdressers in Aberdeen on her iPad.”
Agnes bit her lip and looked crestfallen. She was distracted enough to put the dryer so close to Amelia’s head she almost burned her scalp. Amelia yelped in pain and Agnes was hugely apologetic.
She was also hurt and upset and told herself that, after all, Evie had spent lots of time in London and maybe thought Agnes wasn’t trendy or good enough now that Evie was appearing in magazines and ran such a successful business.
The truth was that Evie had been far too busy to visit Agnes, though she was about to make an appointment in time for the party. However, when she phoned up later that day to book herself in, she was told rather curtly that there was nothing available.
Meanwhile, Amelia had continued down Kirkwall high street, popping into several shops and exclaiming over the clothes and accessories. She found herself outside Hume Sweet Hume where Evie had once tried on a green dress in the window and then wore it on the way home, feeling all sophisticated and daring.
Amelia was going through the rails when the assistant went over to speak to her. “Goodness, I thought that was Evie fora minute there with a daring new hair colour. You must be Amelia. News travels fast here and Kate was in earlier telling me all about you coming over from America. I’m Fiona. Can I help you with anything?”
Amelia gave her a dazzling smile.
“I need something for a very special party.”
“I’m guessing that will be Freya’s surprise eightieth birthday party? We’ve had a fair few of her friends in here buying new dresses. Does Freya really not know all about it?”
“What do you think?” Amelia said with a giggle. “Course she does but she’s going to pretend that it’s a huge shock. I’ve left her planning her outfit.”
Amelia looked around. “This really is a lovely shop. You have so many interesting and unusual things. I don’t understand why Evie told me to go online for Freya’s party because she could never find anything to wear in Orkney.”
Fiona couldn’t believe what she was hearing. This didn’t sound like Evie.
Amelia continued, “And then I found her throwing out that gorgeous green dress she got from here. I had to rescue it from the jumble sale bag. I said to her, ‘If you don’t want it, I will have it.’ ” She gave a tinkling laugh.
Fiona looked stricken. “Are you sure? Evie is one of our best customers. She pops in a lot, and she told me she loved that green dress and would still be wearing it when she was an old woman.”
Amelia said in a rush, “Oh, I must have got it wrong then. I’m sure it’s all a misunderstanding.” She continued flicking through the clothes rails.
“Can I try on this blue silk top with the matching trousers? It’s gorgeous and will be perfect for the party. I have just the right shoes, but I might need your help with a bag.”
“Of course,” said Fiona, but she was frowning, and Amelia could see she had successfully planted doubts in her mind about Evie.
‘So far, so good,’ she thought. ‘And this shop really is a treasure trove. I am absolutely treating myself to this fabulous outfit, and that handbag is a must.’
