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“It’s okay, hun. I do this for a living,” the woman said, gently pushing her into a chair.
Veronica could only assume Luke had ordered this. But why? The woman worked quietly. Veronica couldn’t think of anything to say to her, and for her part, the hairdresser didn’t seem compelled to engage in small talk either, so they didn’t. When Freida was finished, Veronica’s long brown hair was chin length with bangs... and golden blonde.
Luke stepped into the room then.
“What do you think?” Freida asked.
“Perfect. Thank you.”
She packed up her things without further acknowledging Veronica, and left.
Luke sat on the leather sofa and watched her for a long time. He’d dressed her today in a corset and jeans. Trish’s clothes had been packed away as the new things Luke kept buying slowly replaced them.
“You don’t look like her anymore,” he said. He handed her a mirror, and it was true. With the bangs and new color, the resemblance had all but disappeared.
He went out into the hallway and came back with a large, wrapped box. “I got you something.”
Veronica tugged at the red ribbon, and then tore through the gold wrapping paper. Inside the box, wrapped in tissue, were a pair of cowboy boots in her size.”
“I prefer you without shoes, but when you need them, you can wear them. Will you run from me?”
“Where would I go?”
“Good answer, princess.”
She put the boots on and went outside. The temperature had started to turn warm again, the first hint of spring easing its way into the air. She lay in the grass, looking up at the sky and the clouds that had turned fluffy again. She stared up at it for a long time, her mind going back to that first night on the road when she’d stopped and stared up in awe at the stars, and then the day of the branding, where she’d fallen asleep watching the clouds blend and merge through the euphoria of the endorphin rush. She’d felt open and free.
Luke joined her a few minutes later and lay beside her. “What are you thinking about?”
“You were right, I love this sky. I love this ranch.”
“Thank me for bringing you here,” he said. The day he’d told her she’d politely thank him by the time he was finished with her flashed through her mind.
“Thank you, Master.”
A tear slid down her cheek, but Luke didn’t see it. He seemed preoccupied with pretending he wasn’t crazy—as if he could allow her to be a separate person from his tragic love. But the gestures: the hair, the boots... they meant nothing. When he’d looked at her, after Freida was finished... it hadn’t been with the same intensity as before. There had been a note of disappointment that had registered in his eyes for a moment before quickly flitting away.
No, Veronica saw clearly. Soon her roots would grow out, and Luke would let them. She’d be back to the way she’d looked before, as if today had never happened. She’d traded one slavery for another, one lie for another, no more in control of her destiny than before—no matter how much hedonistic pleasure this version brought her. The irony of it all was that she could have been the gold standard, but now she’d stand in the shadow of a ghost, forever clawing for the love and approval that had so easily been given to the other woman.
She blinked back the tears before they could overwhelm her. If he couldn’t love her, this had to be enough. The pleasure. The clean air and peace. The freedom from her debt. As she looked up, bright blue with dots of cotton candy clouds filled her vision. In the end, the sky was the only thing that was real.
* * *
