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Personally, I don’t believe Tanner did cheat on Hattie. I didn’t live here at the time, but what I’ve learned about him in the last couple of days has shown me that he’s a decent guy, and he doesn’t deserve to be judged for something that happened over fifteen years ago.
I have a lot of thoughts on the subject, but I keep it all to myself and just listen.
When Hattie finishes with my hair, I can’t help but smile at myself in the mirror.
“I love it,” I tell her. “How much do I owe you?”
She shakes her head. “Everything is already paid for.”
“Surely you’ll take a tip.”
“No, ma’am. We’ve all been taken care of, above and beyond what we charge. Nobody knew what to charge Tanner for a remote day of spoiling just one person, so we all named our price, and he doubled it. So we’re all good.”
I was going to tolerate just the haircut and then join Tanner while he’s working the herd, but since everyone is here and it’s all been set up, maybe I’ll indulge. A little.
It turns out I enjoy a bit of pampering.
I fall asleep on the massage table in the middle of my session. I don’t know how long the masseuse lets me sleep, but they wake me up sometime later and instruct me to drink water, shower, and moisturize because the stylist will be here shortly to have me choose what outfit I want to wear tonight.
I don’t know where in the entire state of Montana Tanner found a personal stylist, but right on schedule, a woman with a chic haircut and wearing more Gucci than I’ve ever seen on one human at one time breezes through my house and spreads out six garment bags on my bed.
She barely introduces herself before unzipping each bag and explaining who the designers are and what sort of date calls for what outfit. I’m overwhelmed, and honestly, I could not care less.
“You don’t have to do all this. I was just going to wear my jeans and a tunic. My go-to.”
The stylist finally stops moving and levels me with a stare.
“Okay, then,” I reply. “Guess I’ll try on the little black dress.”
Finally, dressed in a knee-length, off-the-shoulder dress with a flouncy skirt, I’m seated for a mani-pedi, followed by makeup.
I cannot stress enough how many times I had to explain to the makeup artist that I wanted nothing more than a natural, nude look, but I still ended up with winged eyeliner and pale, multi-hued eye shadow, and red lips.
“Alright, fine. I look cute,” I admit, to everyone’s delight.
I cannot send these people away without something, so I empty the big freezer of Joy’s loaves of lemon-poppyseed bread and hand a small loaf out to each person.
People are still packing their wares and equipment when the mudroom door opens, and Patsy lopes up to me for some doggy scratches.
“Hi, girl,” I say in a low voice, petting her on her neck and back. “Were you a good helper today?”
I hear Tanner chucking off his boots. My stomach flips at the sound of him knocking around my house, and I have to tell myself not to get used to it.
“Patsy’s a great helper. Hell, you barely need me out there when she’s there. She keeps ‘em in line better than I can.”
I like this side of him. I like having him here. I enjoy the sound of his voice and the fact that he likes my dog. I just like…Tanner.
Once I close the door after the last worker has left, I turn around to see Tanner standing in the middle of the living room, staring at me.
“What is it?”
His Adam’s apple bobs. “You look…so pretty.”
I blink at him. “It’s too much makeup. But thank you.”
He doesn’t respond. Just stares mutely.
“That hat is already dead.”
