by Cynthia Swan
She took Christy’s credit card and rang up the sale, bagging the purchases as she talked.
Secret? Christy couldn’t breathe. Had she given herself away? How did this woman figure out the secret she’d worked so hard for so long to hide?
Hazel spoke, pulling her out of the spiral of thoughts swirling around in her head.
“Don’t worry. Alice will keep your secret. She misses you something fierce. You really should go see her.”
Hazel came around the counter, went to the door, and flipped the sign to closed.
“Linda, she owns Curl Up & Dye, she’ll just flip that she couldn’t change your hair.”
She picked up the box and made a face.
“You sure about this color, honey?”
Christy swallowed. “I’m not really sure about anything right now.”
She took a deep breath, pushed her shoulders back, and looked Hazel in the eye.
“There’s no way I can hide for the next three months, so I have to change how I look. I needed to get away, somewhere quiet.”
Hands shaking, she reached up and pulled the hat off, the weight of her hair tumbling down as the long golden locks fell down to her waist.
“Gracious. Your hair is even prettier in person. And you. You’re breathtaking.”
Hazel took her hands in hers, rubbing them to warm them up.
“Give folks around here a chance. I think you’ll find we take care of our own.”
Christy shook her head.
“I don’t want anyone to treat me different or post pictures of me online. This is the first time I haven’t worked since I was one. My very first vacation.”
Hazel let go of her hands and put a hand on her chest.
“You were only one? You were just a baby. Gracious, that’s a long time to work.”
“My mom sent my picture to a baby company, they liked it, and here I am, twenty-three and exhausted.” Her voice broke.
“I want to be normal. I’m so tired of being judged by my looks, of people thinking I’m stupid.”
She suppressed a yelp when Hazel pulled her into a hug. The woman smelled of the ocean and roses. It was so comforting, Christy wished she could stay here forever, safe in the cozy shop, talking to Hazel.
“We all want to be seen for who we are.” Hazel let go and stepped back with a smile.
“If you’ll let me, I’d like to help.” She tapped a finger against her cheek.
“That’s a ton of hair to deal with. You’re going to need at least three more boxes of color.”
Even though they were alone, Christy looked around to be sure. She dropped her voice to a whisper.
“I’m going to chop it all off.”
Hazel gasped.
“Land sakes. Can you do that? Don’t you have some kind of contract that says what you can and can’t do with your hair?”
Christy made a face.
“I don’t care. I’m doing it.”
She ran her hands through her hair, watching the strands turn to gold as the sun caught it. Her stomach clenched. She loved her hair. In her mind, it was what made her beautiful. Therefore, it would have to go.
“I’m going to put it in a ponytail, and then chop, chop.”
She let her hair fall. How would it feel when she cut it all off?
“I wanted to donate my hair.” Her throat closed up.
“It would make a really pretty wig for someone.” Christy looked to Hazel, hoping they might be friends.
“Would you help me cut it all off?”
Hazel’s eyes were enormous.
“I’m no stylist. It would look awful. I’d be the woman who ruined your hair.”
“I’ll cut it off, if you’ll help me color it.” She waited, hope flowing through her.
Hazel took a deep breath.
“You said you wanted big change. Who am I to stand in your way?” She picked up the paper bags.
“No time like the present. Let’s go.”
Christy was glad Hazel drove them back to the house. It was sixty-two, but the wind off the water made it feel significantly colder.
That morning Christy had called Jo and asked her to have a rental car sent over for her to use while she was here at the beach. Jo assured Christy that her replacement could handle anything she needed while Jo was on her cruise. The car would arrive tomorrow.
While she unpacked the bags, Hazel looked around the house.
“This place is beautiful.”
“It’s so big that it’s a little creepy at night when the wind blows. I can feel the house moving,” Christy admitted.
“It’s because it’s on stilts. It’s an odd sensation, but it’s what the house is supposed to do.”
Hazel went to the window and looked out at the waves.
“I never tire of looking at the ocean.” Her new friend moved to the windows on the side of the kitchen. There were no blinds, just beautiful linen curtains which Christy opened to let in the light.
“Have you met Dalton James yet? He owns What Ales You. Excellent food. He lives next door to you.”
She snorted. “Oh, I met him. At first he seemed nice, but then he was cranky.”
Christy turned on the electric kettle. A cup of hot tea would warm them up.
“Don’t be too hard on him. He went through a nasty breakup a while back. He’s a good guy.”
Hazel leaned on the gray and white granite counter.
“I’ll have a word with him. Rudeness is unacceptable no matter how much your heart still hurts.”
“He still loves her?”
Hazel shook her head.
“I don’t think he ever really loved her. She was trouble from day one. I think he liked the excitement.”
She sighed. “It’s more that he blames himself for not seeing through her deception.”
Christy swallowed and busied herself setting out various flavors of tea.
Hazel rummaged through the cabinets until she found two oversized mugs.
“I was thinking on the way over, your hair is your signature so changing it will go a long way to disguising you.”
She squinted and tilted her head, staring at her.
“Do you have makeup on?”
“Nope.” Christy grinned. “I’m not planning to wear a stitch of makeup the entire time I’m here.”
They sat on the sofas, drinking tea and getting to know each other. A while later, Hazel stood.
“Are you ready?”
Christy took the dishes to the kitchen and put the cups in the dishwasher.
“Let’s do this.” She handed Hazel a box of color.
“Since this is only semi-permanent color. It should last a month to six weeks, then you’ll need to reapply the color or your blond will show through.”
Christy took the other boxes.
“I’m going to put these in my bathroom for later. We can do the color there.”
Hazel followed her upstairs, commenting on how the owners had decorated the house.
“It’s like beach elegant with the shell prints on the furniture and the soft colors on the walls.”
“I like all the shells.” Christy led the way.
“Instead of putting the haircolor in the bathroom cabinets, you might want to put it in your suitcase, just to be safe.”
Christy looked at her, the boxes of color in her hands.
“You wouldn’t want the housekeepers seeing the color and mentioning it to anyone. Not that they’d figure out who you are, but best to be safe.”
“You’re right, thanks.” She stowed the boxes in a zippered section inside one of her bags.
Eighties music filled the room.
“I thought we needed music for this.” Hazel held up her phone. “I love these old songs.”
“I do too.”
Christy pulled her hair into a low ponytail, took the scissors and as Hazel covered her eyes, she sawed through the thick ponytail before she lost her nerve. The golden rope of hair fell to the floor.
Christy put a hand on the counter to steady herself. She felt exposed, yet oh so light.
She picked the long ponytail up off the floor and held it up, admiring the various colors.
“You can look now.”
Hazel uncovered her eyes and gasped.
Christy wiped a tear from her cheek.
“I’m okay, it’s just hair. It will grow back.”
Hazel enfolded her in a hug.
“You are not your hair.”
Christy nodded.
“You’re right, I’m not.” She shook her head from side to side.
“It’s so light. I bet I lost five pounds.”
A while later, they stood side by side in the bathroom, looking in the mirror.
Hazel walked around her.
“If you don’t make up your face and look like people would expect you to look in the magazines, and you dress in casual clothes, I think you’ll pull this off.” She reached out and touched a brown strand.
“I can’t get over what a difference the length and color makes. You look like a totally different person.”
Christy looked in the mirror again. Her hair was now a medium brown, with a few graduated layers around her face. She and Hazel watched several videos on how to cut your own hair before she tried the layers.
For the first time since she’d been a child, her hair was above her shoulders. She ran her hands through her hair.
“I feel so light.” Her stomach growled.
Hazel gathered up the used towels and carried them down to the laundry room.
“Can I at least take you to lunch to thank you?” Christy couldn’t stop touching her hair.
“I’d love to, but go see your aunt first. It might hurt her feelings if she heard we were at lunch before you even called her. She’s off today.”
Christy took a deep breath.
“Would you mind coming with me? I haven’t seen her in a long time. Aunt Alice and my mom had a big falling out, I don’t know if she’ll want to see me or not.”
“Oh honey, she keeps up with you, follows you on social media, gets all your magazines. Alice will be over the moon to see you.” Hazel picked up her phone.
“Want me to call her?”
“Please?” Christy shivered.
“While you talk to her, I’m going to put on my new sweatshirt and fix my hair. I won’t be long.”
When she came back downstairs, Hazel was sitting at the kitchen table, looking at the ocean. She turned, her mouth dropped open.
“Wow. You look amazing. Did you change your mind and put on makeup?”
“A little since I’m seeing my aunt for the first time since I was a kid. I love playing with makeup.”
“I’m not so great with all the lotions and potions.”
Hazel’s eyes sparkled, tiny gold flecks visible in the bright daylight.
“Would you do my makeup?”
Christy rubbed her hands together.
“I’d love to. The natural light is perfect here in the kitchen. Make yourself comfortable, I’ll be right back.”
When she came down the stairs, Hazel was ready. They decided to use the counter so they’d have plenty of room to spread everything out.
Christy spread a towel over the granite to protect the surface, then she heaved the small rolling suitcase up on the towel and opened it.
“I’ve never seen so many products in all my life.”
Hazel blinked at the array of products.
“I thought this would stay in the closet for the next three months.” She grinned. “Let’s have some fun.”
When she finished Hazel’s makeup, she made Hazel close her eyes, then she guided her to the hall bathroom.
“Okay, open your eyes.”
Hazel touched her face.
“How did you do it? I swear I look fifteen years younger.”
“You’re beautiful.”
Hazel turned her face from side to side, looking at herself.
“Would you show me what you used and how to replicate what you did?”
She touched her face, watching herself in the mirror. “Though I doubt I can recreate this magic.”
“You can. All I did was enhance what you already have.” She rubbed her arms. “It’s chilly in here.”
“It is. I think I saw the thermostat in the hall.”
Christy followed her out of the bathroom.
“We can record me putting on your makeup next time, then you can watch it later if you need to. Video helps me remember stuff.”
“That’s a great idea.” Hazel looked at the thermostat.
“I hate these newfangled thermostats, they’re so hard to figure out.”
Christy let out a breath. “I have no idea how to work it.”
“Let me see.”
Hazel pushed a few buttons as she watched.
“Okay, I think you’re good. I set a schedule. If you get too hot or too cold, ask Dalton. He can adjust it. He looks after the place when the owner’s away.”
Fat chance of that. But she smiled and went to the kitchen table.
“Here. It’s everything I used on you.” She handed Hazel a pretty floral tote bag.
“I couldn’t take all that.”
“Please. I get all of this for free and never use most of it, there’s just too much. I’d be happy to see it put to good use.”
Hazel took the tote, a wide smile on her face.
“Thank you.” She pulled on a light jacket.
“I’ll drive you over to Alice’s place. But I think you should talk to her alone. You have a lot to catch up on.”
“If you say so.”
Hazel patted her arm. “Don’t worry, it will be fine.”
Tension spooled through her, making her shoulders ache as she followed Hazel down the stairs to the car.
Her mom said Alice wanted nothing to do with her, but Hazel said her aunt had kept up with Christy’s career and was excited to see her.
She hoped Hazel was right. Hope bloomed within as she looked at the ocean and made a wish.
4
Christy sat on the sofa in the beautifully decorated home and hoped this wasn’t a mistake. She’d said goodbye to Hazel, then took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
“Hazel said you hadn’t eaten yet, so I made salad.”
“I’m starving, thanks.”
Christy followed her aunt to the kitchen. She’d decorated the room in white and bright apple green. The cabinets were white, the counters a muted gray, and the appliances were all apple green. The dishes were floral with more of the cheerful green repeated.
“Please sit.”
She poured them both a glass of water from an antique white hobnail pitcher.
The chairs were a cheery green and white gingham, the white table distressed and well-loved. What would it have been like to grow up in a home like this? It felt like a blanket warm from the dryer.
“I’m so happy to see you.”
Her Aunt placed the cloth napkin in her lap.
“Hazel told me about your hair.” Her eyes twinkled.
“It’s a great idea. I wouldn’t have recognized you until I looked at you closely, and that’s only because I’m your aunt. I’m sure you’ll fool everyone.”
Christy took a bite of the spinach and kale salad. Her aunt was ten years older than her mom. Her mom said she was a change of life baby. Christy had never met her grandparents. They’d both passed the year before she was born. Cancer.
“I wasn’t sure if you’d want to see me. Amy… mom told me you didn’t approve of how I make my living. She said you wanted nothing to do with me.”
Aunt Alice dropped her fork, her cheeks pink. “Wait here a moment.”
Christy was hungry, so she finished her salad while she waited for her aunt to return. When she came back to the table, she held a gray leather album in her arms, her eyes bright.
“Let’s sit in the living room.”
Christy brought their water and her aunt’s u
nfinished salad and set them on the table next to her aunt. She sat on the floral sofa, spine rigid.
Her aunt had beautiful silver hair cut to her shoulders. In fact, her aunt’s hair was about an inch or two longer than her own.
“I’ve saved every mention of you I could find.”
She slid the album over so it was between them, on their laps.
As she flipped through the pages, Christy wiped her cheeks.
“There you are when you were three and did that Christmas ad for Ralph Lauren.”
Her aunt turned pages, pointing out her favorites, all the way until Christy’s most recent cover for Vogue.
“I don’t know what to say. Why would my mom lie to me?”
Her aunt sat back, eating her salad. Christy waited, content to leaf through the album, remembering. There had been fun times mixed in with the awful times.
She only realized she was crying when her aunt touched her cheek.
“I am so proud of you. Of everything you’ve accomplished. You’re at the top of your field. You’re kind and down to earth. I couldn’t be prouder of you, sweetheart.”
Christy blew her nose.
“My sister and I have a complicated relationship. Your mom isn’t the easiest person in the world to get along with.”
Her aunt blew her nose, her cheeks pink.
“Christy?”
She looked at her aunt.
“You are always welcome here. I would never turn you away. You’ve made your own way in the world, in a very tough business for young women. Never forget that.”
She blew her nose again.
“I’m sorry you feel like you need to hide. To cut off your beautiful hair.”
When she opened her mouth to speak, her aunt held up a hand.
“I understand the need for a new beginning. A clean slate. To be seen for who you are and not an image of yourself.” She sighed.
“It was wrong for Amy to make you work so much. Everyone needs time away to recharge or they burn out.”
“I never went to school. I had tutors. My high school diploma came in the mail. I always wanted to go to a football game, to dance at prom, and to walk across the stage wearing a cap and gown.”
Christy closed the album and placed it on the table in front of them.
“Most of all, I missed making friends. Going on field trips, complaining about the teachers, and having boyfriends.”