Page 9 of Falling for the Forward

She shrugs and sits back in her seat. “Too late now.”

I should probably break the news to him myself so Charlotte’s happiness over her hair isn’t ruined by his ire when he sees it.

When I pull up to Olivia’s middle school, she’s waiting for us. She sighs heavily as she gets into the back seat. “Suki, are you good at math?”

“Uh...I should be able to help if it’s sixth-grade math. What are you working on?”

“Areas of shapes. I have to memorize formulas.”

“I can definitely help with that.”

“Charlotte, your hair!” Olivia squeals. “Let me see it!”

Charlotte turns around. “Suki’s hairstylist, Andi, did it. Isn’t it great?”

“It’s pretty,” Olivia agrees. “Much better than before.”

I give Olivia a grateful smile in the rearview. “Girls, what would your mom think about Charlotte’s pink hair?”

“She would laugh!” Hallie says gleefully.

“I think she’d like it, but she wouldn’t have liked me cutting it,” Charlotte says.

“Hey, at least it’s not a tattoo,” I say. “It’ll grow back.”

“But I want to keep it pink, even when it’s long.”

I’m not sure that’ll fly with her uncle, but I don’t mention it.

“What should we have for dinner tonight?” I ask them. “I have groceries for spaghetti or tacos.”

Hallie and Olivia vote tacos and Charlotte votes spaghetti.

“Could we do spaghetti tomorrow night?” I ask her.

“Sure.”

When we get home, all the girls head off to do their own things. I know the silence won’t last long, so I take the opportunity to text Carter.

Suki: Hey Carter, just wanted to show you what we did with Charlotte’s hair. She’s very happy with it and I think she looks great.

I exhale hard before sending him the text and one of the photos I took of Charlotte at the salon. I’m about to set my phone on the counter and start dinner when I see that he texted me back right away. That’s probably not good.

Carter: OK.

I squint at my phone screen, reading his message again.OK?What the hell kind of response is that? I want to like the guy--really, I do--but he makes it hard. Just because his nieces are here because of an unexpected tragedy, that doesn’t mean it’s okay for him to show so little interest in them.

A pastel hair color deserves something more thanOK. Ignoring my voice of reason, which is telling me to be quiet and not piss off my new boss, I fire back a quick response.

Suki: Hope you have an OK game tonight.

I set my phone back down on the counter, my pulse pounding. That wasn’t smart. Should I try to unsend it?

It’s probably too late. I turn my phone screen-side down and start gathering my ingredients for dinner. I’m not going to waste another moment thinking about Carter’s feelings.

If he even has any. Carter very well may be one of those cavemen who only think about sports, food and sex. In which case, he won’t even know that was an insult.

Problem most likely solved.

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