She looked around. “No fireplace. I guess we could make a fire outside and dry my hair out there.”
He shook his head. “You’ve never used a hair dryer before, have you?”
Her brows bunched. “What?”
“I’ll dry it for you. Let me grab the dryer.” He pulled the appliance out and moved to plug it in. She’d never used a hair dryer, which meant she may not know about safety. He needed to explain a few things to her. “So I don’t want to assume anything, but did you have electricity where you lived?”
She nodded. “We had lights, but women were restricted to what we could use.”
“Did you learn that things that are plugged in can never go into water?”
“Yes. I knew that. Mable died from dunking the can opener into the bucket.”
“Okay, so you know that rule. With hair driers, they have an air intake on one end. If you have long hair, it can be sucked into the intake, so you have to be careful with your long hair.”
“Is it safe to use?”
“It is safe, and I’ll be careful. Sit in the chair out here in the main room, and I’ll dry your hair.”
Flora moved to the chair and sat facing the mirror. She didn’t want to stare too much at Q, but he looked good. He was sodifferent from the men in her community. He hadn’t yelled at her once, and when he spoke to her, he sounded nice.
Q plugged in the dryer, then turned it on. The sound was loud next to her ear, but the warm air felt good on her wet head. Since she didn’t want to stare at Q because watching him for too long made her feel uncomfortably warm, she closed her eyes. The feel of his hands running over her hair combined with the warmth made her head dip like she was drifting off.
She jerked her head up and flashed open her eyes. Q met her gaze and smiled. Heat washed over her, and she looked down. The machine turned off, and he moved so he could look at her face.
“It feels good, doesn’t it?”
She nodded. “It does.”
“I’ve almost fallen asleep when I’ve had my hair cut.” He touched a strand of her hair and nodded. “I think your hair is dry enough. Let’s go get you some clothes and shoes. They may not let you walk into the store without shoes, but we might be able to sneak in. We’ll go straight to the shoe area and get you some socks and shoes.”
“I’ve never been allowed to wear real shoes. Only when the weather gets real cold are we allowed to wear anything that covers our feet.”
“Well, you’re going to have shoes and socks. We’ll get something comfortable that is decent.”
She didn’t know what that meant. She’d been called indecent many times, so she wondered what he thought decent was. Did he think she was indecent? She didn’t want to be indecent, but maybe running away had marked her.
As they drove to the store, she stared out at the world in wonder. The number of people she saw was weird. When they pulled off the road, and she saw the size of the store, her jawdropped in wonder. This was the biggest building she’d ever seen. He hurried her in, going straight to the shoe area.
“I guess you don’t know what size shoes you wear?”
She shook her head. “Size?”
“Let me see if I can find a sizing tool. Just stay here. Don’t move.”
He went around the corner, and she stood, looking after him. Fear rose as she glanced around, seeing all the strange stuff she’d never experienced. Her breath came fast, and she felt like the buzz in her head would cause her skull to explode.
He came back with multiple boxes in his hands, and relief slid through her. “I couldn’t find the thing to get your size. I figure we’ll just start with seven and go from there. These are called sneakers or tennis shoes. Some people call them trainers. They have grippy treads, so you don’t slip. Some people run or jog in them. When you put them on, you’ll have a small amount of room between your toes and the tip of the shoe. If your toes have to curl, they don’t fit.”
She nodded but wasn’t exactly sure what he was talking about. He held out a package of socks and she took them. They were white with a pink stripe.
“Put on a pair of socks, and then we’ll try the shoes.”
She opened the package and pulled on a sock. It felt so soft on her feet. She wasn’t sure if she should be allowed to wear something that felt so good. It almost seemed obscene.
“Let’s try the shoes now.”
The shoe felt tight before he got the end of it over her heel. “Ouch.”
