Crystal Lies - Melody Carlson [45]
Finally I felt a nudge on my shoulder. “Don’t you want to see?” she was asking me.
“Sorry,” I told her, opening my eyes, attempting to focus. Then I looked up and saw my hair looking very much as it had looked nearly twenty years ago, only without the bangs. She had cut bluntly, just above my shoulders, and the color was auburn again. Perhaps not as intense as it used to be, but it seemed to look more natural like this, more subdued and fitting with my age.
“That’s nice,” I told her as I reached up to touch it.
She nodded. “A real improvement.”
“Glennis!” called Sherry as she came into the salon. “Is that really you?” I turned and smiled. “I’m not sure.”
“Oh, you look absolutely stunning!”
“Oh, I don’t know—”
“But we need Linda now.” Sherry glanced over to the girl at the receptionist desk. “Is Linda here?”
“She’s in the back,” said the girl. “You want me to call her out?”
“Yes,” said Sherry. Then she took my hand and led me over to a station with cosmetics.
“Oh, I don’t know,” I said when I realized what Sherry had in mind. “I’m pretty much a minimalist when it comes to makeup.”
“Obviously,” said Sherry as she practically forced me into the chair.
“But I don’t go for much makeup—”
“Don’t worry, Glennis,” she assured me. “Linda is very tasteful. You won’t look like a clown.”
Finally it was over, and I emerged from Linda’s hands, not looking like a clown exactly, but perhaps a little more dramatic than I would have preferred. However I did like the colors Linda had chosen and even decided to purchase a few items.
“The haircut and color are on me,” said Sherry as she pushed my money away.
“No,” I insisted. “You can’t—”
“I can and I will.” She turned and smiled at me. “I just wrote out an offer on a house, and I feel like celebrating.”
“Congratulations,” I told her. “But you don’t need to—”
“No arguing with me, Glennis. It was my idea, and I intend to pay for it. Then I can take all the credit when people start complimenting you on your new look.”
So I decided not to argue. Instead I just hugged her when we got outside. “Thanks,” I told her.
“I wish I could take you out and show you off,” she teased. “But Rod and I are having dinner at the Franklins’ tonight.”
I waved my hand. “That’s okay,” I assured her. “It’s been a long day for me anyway.” So we said good-bye, and I got into the Range Rover just as it began to rain. I couldn’t help but pull down the rearview mirror to take a peek at myself again. I blinked in surprise. I really did look different. Then I started the engine and turned on the windshield wipers and just sat there. I considered going home to my apartment but knew that Jacob wouldn’t get off work until after nine. Maybe it was hearing that Rod and Sherry had a dinner date, or maybe it was being all dressed up with nowhere to go, but suddenly I felt very, very lonely.
I remembered the deep-breathing exercise that Dr. Abrams had told me about, and sitting there in my SUV with rain pelting down and wipers going, I attempted to calm myself by breathing deeply. To my relief, it seemed to work. Then I remembered something Dr. Abrams had said about taking care of myself first. Now, admittedly, this was a new concept to me. I mean I’d spent the past twenty-five years taking care of everyone else’s needs before ever considering my own. I wasn’t even sure how to go about it.
“What do you need, Glennis?” I asked myself aloud, feeling a bit silly. Then my stomach growled, and I realized I was hungry. And what I felt hungry for was a big plateful of pesto linguini and rock shrimp from Sindalli’s.
Why not? I asked myself. I put the Range Rover into gear and drove over to the restaurant. Then thankful that it wasn’t quite six, and still early