Stronger

by Janet Nissenson

  Surprisingly, Cara felt rather ambivalent after talking with her father - neither giddy with delight that he’d finally, albeit half-heartedly, called her, or upset because he had sounded so distant. She realized with an odd sense of relief that she simply didn’t care all that much any longer, that she had finally arrived at a place where her father couldn’t hurt her again.

  The rest of the day passed by quickly, as she watched two more movies, ate part of the delicious prime rib dinner until she was too stuffed to move, and scrolled through photos on her new laptop for potential hairstyles.

  But as surprisingly pleasant as this quiet day at home had proven to be, the very best part of the day was receiving a brief text from Dante just after dinner.

  “Thinking of you just like I said I would, and hope that you’re enjoying all of your gifts. Merry Christmas, Cara mia.”

  She was sorely tempted to call him, under the pretext of thanking him yet again for all of his fabulous gifts, but truthfully just to hear his voice. She imagined him with a roomful of family members, everyone laughing and eating and drinking and having a wonderful time together. And then she envisioned the beautiful Katie by his side, enjoying the holiday meal with all the others, everyone no doubt already considering her one of the family, and all of the pleasures she had enjoyed today were dimmed considerably.

  In response, she simply texted back, “Merry Christmas. Thanks again.”, before saying to hell with her diet for once and cutting off a generous slice of that cheesecake.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  January

  The hairdresser held out a long lock of her hair and shook his head. “It would be a crime to straighten all of these beautiful natural curls,” he clucked. “Now, your hair definitely needs a good cut and some definition, but I don’t think straightening it is the right answer. That stick straight look wouldn’t do a thing for you, sweetie.”

  “I’ve been trying to tell her that,” Mirai interjected. “But she’s been hell-bent on this Brazilian blowout thing for years now.”

  Ruben, who’d been cutting Mirai’s hair for several years, grimaced. “That sort of treatment wouldn’t last very long on your hair type, Cara,” he cautioned. “At best, they last three months, maybe four. But your hair’s so thick and curly it might not even be two months. And I’d hate to see you waste your money that way.”

  Cara hadn’t expected this sort of resistance from Mirai’s longtime hairdresser, and stubbornly stuck her chin out. “But my hair is so hard to manage this way,” she pointed out. “And I’m terrible with a blow dryer, and don’t have the time to style it every day. I figured if I straightened it all I’d have to do is wash it and let it dry naturally and it would look great.”

  Ruben, who was short, slim, and more than a little flamboyant in both his dress and mannerisms, continued to shake his head. “Frankly, with your hair type I can’t even guarantee that the straightening treatment would work at all. And as far as the manageability is concerned, why don’t you let me try and work a little magic on you, hmm? I’m getting a really fabulous idea here about what I’d like to do with this gorgeous mane, and I can guarantee you’re going to love it.”

  “Let him try, Cara,” urged Mirai. “There’s a reason why Ruben is regarded as one of the top stylists in the city. Even my mom makes sure she stops in for an appointment with him whenever she’s in town, and if he can please her he can make anyone happy. Trust me, okay?”

  “She’s right, sweetie,” chimed in Ruben. “Tell you what. If you don’t like the end result today, you come back to see me in a couple of days and I’ll do the straightening treatment for free. Mirai’s my witness, aren’t you, girl?”

  Mirai nodded emphatically, leaving Cara little choice but to sigh and nod in agreement. Ruben and Mirai high-fived each other triumphantly, and then Ruben got to work on what he termed “creating my masterpiece”.

  Cara still had serious doubts about the ultimate outcome, and half-wished she’d found her own salon instead of letting Mirai strong-arm her into coming here. But she obediently let Ruben shampoo and condition her hair with some admittedly divine smelling products, and then tried to keep an open mind as he began to cut and layer her hair. The one thought that continued to console her throughout the process was Ruben’s promise to still straighten her hair if this cut didn’t meet her expectations. And while that was cutting things a little close – no pun intended – she would still have a day to spare before the wedding on Saturday.

  For the past couple of days, she and Mirai had been searching out the very best deals at all of the holiday clearance sales. Thanks to Dante’s extremely generous gift, Cara had been able to use the money she’d earmarked for a new computer towards replenishing her wardrobe instead. Combined with the funds she’d saved by not traveling to Florida or buying gifts for her father and his family, she now had nearly a thousand dollars to spend on clothes, shoes, and lingerie, plus her haircut. And that didn’t even take into consideration the dress and shoes Mirai had promised to buy her as a belated Christmas present.

  But while that amount of money sounded like a small fortune to someone like her, who’d been scrimping and saving like a miser these past few years, a thousand dollars was a mere drop in the bucket to Mirai. Cara knew for a fact that her BFF could spend that amount on a single handbag or pair of shoes or, if she was lucky enough to hit a sale, maybe a skirt and a blouse. So when Mirai had tried to steer her into such high end stores as Neiman Marcus, Barneys, and Saks Fifth Avenue, Cara had balked and instead hit up more reasonably priced retailers like Macy’s, H&M, and Marshall’s. And while Mirai might have turned up her pert little nose upon entering some of the lower-end stores, she hadn’t been able to deny the fact that Cara’s limited funds had gone a much longer way there.

  They had yet to find a dress and shoes for the wedding, however, and planned to continue their search once Cara’s hair appointment was over. Thus far nothing had felt quite right to her, hadn’t matched the mental image of herself that she’d formed. The problem, she realized as Ruben reached for the blow dryer, was that she wasn’t exactly sure what sort of image she wanted to project at the wedding – svelte and sexy, dramatic and mysterious, soft and feminine, or none of the above. She had envisioned herself in all of those images with straight, sleek, and shiny tresses, however, and wondered just how different she was actually going to look when Ruben was finally finished.

  But she had never in her wildest imaginations pictured herself looking quite like this – her formally untamable, overwhelming mane of curls tumbling in artless disarray over her shoulders and down her back. Ruben hadn’t taken all that much length off, but he’d certainly added layers and definition to the style, with shorter strands around her face and forehead. He’d used some sort of finishing gloss on her hair, a spray-in product that brought out some very subtle red highlights she hadn’t even realized were there.

  The cut made her look older, more sophisticated, and definitely – well, sexy. And she realized immediately that this style was far more suitable to her bone structure and the shape of her head than the long, stick straight tresses she had initially requested.

  “I love it.”

  Ruben beamed at her words, and impulsively pressed a kiss to her cheek. “Didn’t I tell you, sweetie?” he replied triumphantly. “Ruben knows what he’s doing. And you look amazing. No, amazing isn’t the right word. She looks - ”

  “Stunning,” inserted Mirai, touching Cara’s glossy waves with reverence. “And drop dead gorgeous. Just wait until we find the right dress and shoes for you, Cara. And with the makeup job I’m going to do on you, everyone at that wedding is going to be staring at you all night. Especially that bastard who dumped you for his skinny blonde ex-girlfriend. You’re going to look so amazing, in fact, that he’ll beg you to take him back. But instead you’re going to walk all over him in the stiletto heels you’ll be wearing.”

  Cara rolled her eyes, exchanging a look with an amused R
uben. “She’s watched way too many episodes of Real Housewives,” she explained. “And I never agreed to stilettos. I’ll fall flat on my face, or twist my ankle. Probably at the same time.”

  Ruben chuckled as he gave her hair a finishing comb through. “So you haven’t found a dress yet for this wedding? Hmm, if I might make a suggestion? Look for deep, rich colors – maybe something in a jewel tone, like sapphire blue or topaz. Mirai, when you do her makeup make sure to do a bold brow, hmm? And red lips. Definitely red lips. She’ll look like an Italian movie star, a real bombshell.”

  Mirai nodded. “Got it. And I was already thinking along those same lines.”

  Cara raised her hand. “Hey. Do I get a say in any of this?”

  “No,” Ruben and Mirai replied at the exact same time.

  Cara sighed in resignation. “That’s what I thought.”

  “See? Aren’t you glad now that you let me have my way? Seriously, Cara, I’m really starting to think I should forget the fashion merchandising thing and go to cosmetology school instead. I have a real talent for this, don’t you agree?”

  Cara could only stare at herself in Mirai’s bedroom mirror, reaching out a hand to touch the image reflected there to make sure this was really her. Mirai had done her makeup numerous times before this, of course, but she’d taken much greater pains today to make sure everything was perfect. And for once Cara hadn’t protested that Mirai was using too heavy a hand with the blusher, or that she didn’t like wearing eyeliner, or that the shade of lipstick made her mouth look too big – because the end result was positively stunning.

  Mirai had followed Ruben’s suggestions and given Cara both a bold eyebrow and ruby red lips. She had also made Cara’s eyes look enormous with some subtle shadow, several coats of mascara, and discreet eyeliner. And Cara wasn’t quite sure what products Mirai had used on her cheekbones, but they looked far more defined than usual. Of course, some of that was due to her recent twenty pound weight loss, which had helped to slim down her formerly plump cheeks.

  “You’re a genius, is what you are,” enthused Cara, studying her face in the mirror in some disbelief. “And while you definitely have a talent for doing makeup and hair and nails, you should plan to stick with the fashion merchandising. I certainly wouldn’t have chosen a dress like this for myself. It took someone with a real eye for fashion to know that this would end up being the perfect one for me.”

  After her hair appointment on Wednesday, she and Mirai had hit the stores yet again in search of the perfect dress for Cara to wear to the wedding. After striking out at a half dozen different large department stores, they had happened upon a small but charming boutique tucked away on a side street near Union Square. The place had specialized in petite sizes, and the moment Mirai had spied the emerald green gown she’d declared that this was definitely the one.

  Cara hadn’t been convinced at first, since green had never been her favorite color. Plus, she had been envisioning herself in something more overtly sexy than the sleeveless, tea-length dress with the semi-sheer lace panels covering the bodice – something shorter, tighter, more provocative, perhaps in black or red. But as soon as Mirai had zipped her into the gown, Cara had known instantly that it was perfect for her.

  She’d been thrilled that she could actually fit comfortably into a size six now, but even more delighted by the way the gown flattered her newly slim but still curvy figure. The color had done amazing things for her dark hair and olive skin, and Cara had never felt prettier or more feminine in her life.

  Mirai hadn’t even glanced at the price tag when she’d paid for the dress, but admitted to Cara afterwards that it had cost far less than she had expected, especially since it had been marked down by forty percent from the original price.

  Shoes had come next, and they’d snagged a pair of strappy gold evening sandals and a coordinating clutch bag at the Macy’s storewide clearance. And while Cara was still definitely on the busty side, her bra size was also smaller now after the weight loss, necessitating the purchase of a new strapless bra and panty set in nude lace. She decided to forego stockings since her dress would reach nearly to the ankles, and had already agreed to borrow some jewelry from Mirai for the occasion.

  “Okay,” declared Mirai, setting aside her makeup brushes. “My work here is done. Time for you to get dressed. Kai’s supposed to pick you up in less than half an hour so you’d better get a move on.”

  Kai was one of Mirai’s half-brothers, the same one who co-owned a very successful restaurant in New York City. And when Mirai had seen him over the Christmas holidays, he’d casually mentioned a planned visit to San Francisco for the purpose of scouting out a location for a second restaurant. Determined that Cara arrive at Angela’s wedding with a date – and not just any date, but a good-looking, well-dressed, and successful one – Mirai had talked Kai into being her BFF’s escort.

  Fortunately, Cara had met Kai on at least two prior occasions, and was at ease with the affable, charming man who was in his late twenties. Kai was the product of his father’s second marriage to an Australian woman, and he had noticeable traces of an Australian accent when he spoke. He was also proudly bisexual, and currently living with an equally good-looking male model back in Manhattan.

  Cara had resisted the idea of bringing a date at first, not wanting to feel like some pathetic wallflower who needed to get fixed up with her best friend’s brother. But Mirai had insisted that she couldn’t show up at the wedding alone, especially not with Dante’s gorgeous actress girlfriend in attendance.

  “Don’t you want to rub all of this in his face?” Mirai had demanded. “Remember the whole concept about how looking good is the best revenge? Well, you need to be holding on to some seriously hot man candy to complete the look. And even though Kai is my half-brother, there’s no denying that the boy is droolworthy. Bringing him along as your plus one will definitely make that bastard Dante sit up and take notice.”

  It had been pointless to argue with Mirai that she couldn’t care less about Dante’s reaction, either to the way she looked or to her bringing a date to Nick and Angela’s wedding. For one thing, Mirai evidently did care – a lot – and second, she also knew that Cara was lying through her teeth with such half-hearted protests. And it might have made her seem petty and vindictive, but Cara found herself rather eagerly anticipating Dante’s reaction to seeing her in just over an hour from now – looking better than she ever had in her life, and being escorted by a suave, sophisticated, and extremely attractive male.

  If the gorgeous green gown had looked amazing when she’d tried it on in the boutique three days ago, it looked beyond mesmerizing now when it was part of the whole package – hair, makeup, shoes, and accessories. Mirai had loaned her a gold bangle bracelet and diamond studded gold hoop earrings, but not a necklace, insisting that it would be overkill with the dress’s lace inserts.

  “Stand still, would you?” demanded Mirai as she snapped half a dozen photos of Cara. “You might never look this good again, so we’d better make sure we document it.”

  Cara stuck her tongue out, then scowled when Mirai took a picture of her in that pose. “Thanks a lot. Way to build up my confidence just before I have to face the music.”

  Mirai laughed merrily. “Oh, come on! You know I’m kidding. And speaking of facing the music, are you sure you’ve practiced walking in those shoes enough? Wouldn’t want you toppling over when Kai twirls you around the dance floor. Did I mention that in addition to being too handsome for his own good, smart as hell, and successful, that my brother’s a great dancer, too?”

  “I don’t recall hearing that part. But considering I haven’t danced since my senior year recital, I’m not sure he’ll be able to persuade me into humiliating myself,” drawled Cara as she checked her clutch to make sure she hadn’t forgotten anything.

  “Oh, come on! You’re a great dancer and you know it. And that’s not exactly true about not having danced since high school. I seem to recal
l at least a couple of wild parties where you got up on a table to shake and shimmy,” teased Mirai.

  “Oh, God.” Cara closed her eyes at the embarrassing memories Mirai had just evoked. “Okay, that so doesn’t count! I was drunk and stupid and I like to think I’ve moved past that sort of behavior. Just in case, though, I’d better warn Kai to cut me off after two or three drinks.”

  “You’ll be fine.” Mirai gave her shoulder a squeeze. “And speaking of Kai, that’s probably him now.”

  As Mirai let her half-brother into the apartment, Cara thought with a little sigh that it was really too bad he was currently in a relationship. Because Kai was without question one of the most attractive men she’d ever met. A quarter Polynesian, he was of above average height, lean-hipped, and with smooth golden skin. His dark gray suit and striped tie looked like they had been custom tailored to his slim frame, and if he took after his fashionista sister Cara was willing to bet his clothes had cost a small fortune. His black hair was cut in a trendy style, short on the sides and back and longer on top, and he sported a small diamond stud in one earlobe.

  Kai was also incredibly charming, and his golden brown eyes twinkled merrily as they took in Cara’s appearance. “You look so different than you did the last time we met,” he marveled. “Not that you didn’t look good then, of course, but now – well, you take my breath away. Almost makes me want to give my significant other the boot and switch teams again.”

  Cara laughed as he bent to kiss her cheek. “Oh, no! I can’t see myself as the other woman under any circumstances. Though in this case, would I be the other man? I mean, how does that work when you, uh, play for both sides?”