Page 19 of Keeping Her Safe

Paige gave her a total that had crested the four-digit mark. With a smile, she slid her card through the machine. Money well-spent. Paige handed her the receipt to sign and added a tip that matched the original total.

“I cannot accept this, Zephyr. It’s too much,” Paige protested.

“No, it's not. You are great at your job. I wish I had met you years ago. Treat your kids to something special. Do you know a hairdresser I could get into at the last minute?” Zephyr brushed off the woman’s complaints.

“Yes, three doors down. I will make sure Patty has time for you,” Paige assured her with a gentle smile.

Before Zephyr left the shop, both ladies gave her a hug and told her not to color her hair. They would hunt her down if she did. The hair salon was near the car, so Zachary stepped away to put the bags in the car while she went into the shop. He would keep an eye on her from there.

True to Paige’s word, Patty had the chair ready for her when she walked in. Patty was a middle-aged woman with spiky pink hair and a huge smile. “What can I do for you, honey?”

“I need the curls gone, and the color changed,” Zephyr said as she sat down.

Spinning her in the chair, Patty ran her fingers through the riot of curls. “Is this all natural?”

“This is how it looks all the time.”

“I constantly have women in here wanting this. I can’t give women this hair,” Patty said in wonder.

“I need a change. I look a lot like my sisters, and I am ready to be different.” Zephyr told the truth.

“Let’s straighten it and cut it and see if that is enough,” Patty replied, nodding her head.

Just as Patty was starting to trim away at her long curls, Zachary poked his head in and said, “I’m going into the store next door and getting a suitcase. Do you want a wallet or purse?”

“Wallet,” she called out to him.

“You know what to do,” he called back as he left her.

“He’s good-looking. Kind of pushy, though.”

“You get used to it,” Zephyr said. It was true, but she knew why he was acting the way he was. Still, she wished he would relax a little.

Patty was easy to talk to. She had Zephyr expanding on the story of her and Zachary. It was a good thing her imagination was more than up to the task. Patty wanted details about how they met, the wedding, dates. By the time the older woman had straightened, cut, and styled her hair, Zephyr noticed that Zachary was sitting in the waiting area, reading a book. Was he listening? Probably. He had to be able to hear them.

Spinning the chair to face the mirror, Patty said, “How does that look? Enough of a change?”

Staring out from the mirror was a woman Zephyr had never seen before. Her hair was styled in a sleek bob that grazed her shoulders. It looked darker than it had ever looked, more auburn than the red she always thought it was.

“Will the curls come back?” She touched the straight hair.

“Yes. You’ll have to get it straightened once a month to keep it straight.”

“What if it curls when it is wet?”

“It shouldn’t. If so, I have a straightener you can buy.”

“I actually need everything that made this possible. I have nothing with me,” Zephyr replied, eyes going wide.

Standing up, she called out to Zachary, who was not watching her for the first time since he showed up on the beach. When his eyes raised to hers, that guarded expression was gone for a heartbeat, and his eyes darkened with desire. Desire for her.

“Do you like it?” she asked when his guard was back up.

“You look gorgeous, Zephyr. You always are, but this is amazing.” He got up and looked at her from head to toe. Everything had changed in the last few hours.

Smiling at him, she turned to the hairdresser and said, “I need everything you used on the hair.”

Patty happily gathered up all the items she had used and put them in a bag for Zephyr. Ringing up the total, Zephyr realized this trip was going to cost more than she spent on clothing and her hair in a year or maybe three. But it was worth it.

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