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“Here, wear this,” one of the cousins said, pulling off her jean jacket.
“I can’t take your coat,” I replied, lifting my hands to ward her off.
“It’s fine,” she said, putting it in my hands. “I’ve got another coat in my Jeep.”
Heather helped me slip on the jean jacket and they stood around me, looking me over some more.
“Hair,” one of the women said, nodding.
“My hair?” I reached up to touch the bun at the back of my head.
“It’s really long,” Heather said, shaking her head. “If she wears it down, we might as well be waving a fucking flag.”
I choked on my own spit.
“We’ll braid it,” Otto’s gram said, winking at me. She walked around me and gently pulled the pins and ponytail out, letting my hair fall down my back.
“Holy shit,” the taller of Otto’s sisters-in-law said.
“Told you,” the shorter one murmured.
“It makes so much sense now.”
“Mmhmm.”
Gram’s fingers ran through my hair, and the breath caught in my throat. It had been so long since anyone but me had touched my hair. Memories of my mom, and later Noel, brushing my hair for me hit with the force of a hurricane.
“We’ll pull it forward,” Gram said, gently positioning my hair loosely over my shoulder. “Then we’ll just do a loose braid.” Her hands worked quickly and efficiently, and seconds later, she was putting the ponytail around the end of my hair.
“Better,” Otto’s aunt announced.
“What about the boots?” one of the cousins asked.
They stared at my rain boots. I’d never been so thankful that I was wearing a pair of tights that didn’t have any runs in them.
“What size do you wear?” Otto’s other cousin asked.
“Six and a half?” Were they going to change my shoes, too? Everyone wore rain boots!
“That’s Mom’s size,” his cousin said, spinning on her heel. “I’ll see what she has.”
“I can just wear these,” I said to Heather quietly, my voice strained.
“Not with the rest of it,” she replied almost apologetically. “Just trust us, yeah?”
“Cowboy boots,” the cousin announced, striding quickly back toward us a minute later. She lifted a battered pair of brown boots up.
I wanted to argue, but with all their eyes on me, I lost my courage. Quickly, before I could change my mind, I stepped out of my boots and into the cowboy boots. They pinched a little, and the bottoms seemed kind of slippery, but they fit.
“Good,” Otto’s aunt said with a nod.
“Makeup?” one of the cousins asked.
“No makeup,” I said quickly, shaking my head. I’d let them change my clothes and hair even though wearing my hair down made me feel like I was going out in my pajamas and I was pretty sure I was going to trip wearing the cowboy boots, but I wasnotwearing makeup.
“What the hell did you do?” Otto snapped, walking into the room from wherever he’d been.
“Does it look bad?” I asked worriedly before anyone else could speak.
