“Okay, mate.” He picked up her ponytail and loosened the hair tie. He gathered up her hair, which was still slightlydamp from the shower she’d had at the gym, and held it up. “What are you thinking?” He cocked his head to one side. “I can see you rocking a short back and sides with a floppy bit at the front.”
Rory gazed at him. Was that it? No fanfare, no arguments or judgement. Just “okay mate” and then immediately suggesting the look she wanted.
“Uh, yeah.” She spluttered out. Tapping her phone screen, she pulled up a picture of a hairstyle she liked. “Do you think this would work?”
Craig looked over her shoulder at the picture on her phone. It showed one of the influencers she had found on Instagram.
“So, a high taper fade with volume on top?” Craig asked her through the mirror.
“Um, I guess,” She shrugged, feeling woefully unprepared, despite the research she had done.
He laughed, and the rest of her tension melted away
“Is this the first time you’re going short?”
“Yep.” She swallowed a few times, trying to get rid of the lump in her throat.
“Cool, how about we start you at a grade four at the back and I’ll style the top longer so you can play with it.” He moved her long hair around. “Until we remove all this, I won’t know how your hair lies, so I might not get exactly what you want first time, but I will do my best to get it how you want.”
She stared at him and then at Gemma. Gemma’s eyes held unshed tears over a smile. This care and acceptance was something else.
“Do you mind if Sammy here takes some before and after pics?” Craig asked.
Rory nodded her agreement as Sammy quickly startedsnapping pictures as Craig reached for a brush. He tidied her long hair up for the last time and deftly made it into a plait.
“This sounds a silly question, but go with me,” he caught her eyes in the mirror. “What do you want to do with your hair once it’s cut off?”
Rory blinked in surprise. Did he think she wanted to take it home with her? Or was he going to mount it on the wall of his shop like a trophy?Here sits the last of Rory Davies’ femininity?
Craig snorted and smiled. “I just ask because there’s a charity that takes hair and makes it into wigs for kids. Yours is lovely, and I can send it to them. It’ll make a big difference to someone’s life.”
Rory relaxed again. “Yes, that sounds nice.”
“Awesome.” Craig held out the scissors to Gemma. “You want to do the honours?”
Gemma stood forward and took the scissors. Her eyes caught Rory’s through the mirror, and for a moment the world slid away. Everything they had been through in the last few weeks – the talks, the shopping trip, the visits to the gym, all of Gemma’s research – came down to this. This was the moment. Rory felt something shift in her chest. As she gazed into Gemma’s eyes and then to Gemma’s hands as she cut away her hair, Rory realised that despite her best efforts, she was falling in love with Gemma.
19
GEMMA
Gemma wandered aimlessly along the high street while she waited for Rory to have her hair cut. After the momentous occasion of cutting Rory’s plait off, she was then unceremoniously shooed from the shop by Craig, who declared that ‘it was not a spectator sport’ and that ‘girlfriends were not required.’
She didn’t want to dive into the fact that neither Rory nor she had corrected him that she wasn’t Rory’s girlfriend. As she aimlessly wandered, she wondered if Rory would correct his assumption while he was cutting her hair. She didn’t know what to think of that. If she was honest, she felt more like Rory’s girlfriend with every day that passed, except they weren’t girlfriends and didn’t sleep together.
She went into a charity shop and idly flicked through the clothes as she thought about that. They did sleep together. Every time they ended up at Rory’s place, they ended up in the same bed, and it was innocent and platonic, mostly. A couple of times she had woken up nestled in Rory’s arms, and once she had snuggled into Rory’s backwhen she’d woken up after a bad dream, but that didn’t mean anything. It couldn’t mean anything, she reminded herself, not when Rory was so strict about keeping things as just friends between them.
She was flicking through some clothes and thinking about Rory when her thoughts were interrupted by her phone ringing. She glanced at the screen before swiping to accept the call.
“Hello Teagan.” She smiled into the phone.
“Hello Gemma, or is it Mrs Rory yet?” Teagan’s voice was full of the annoying teasing she loved about her friend.
“What can I do for you?” Gemma ignored Teagan’s comment. To acknowledge it would only prove to Teagan that it bothered her
“Are you and the missus free tonight?” Teagan’s voice was filled with Aussie mirth.
Gemma ground her teeth. “Teagan!” She implored.
