Casey burst out laughing. “No!I hit a speed limit sign, and then Boone showed up on his motorcycle out of the blue and got me to my cosmetology school interview on time after we hadn’t spoken to each other sincehigh school!”
Willow’s eyes widened. “Doallof you somehow have a chicken involved in your romantic relationships?”
Every single one of them nodded her head, even Jenna.
“She’s a wise old hen, Miss Willow. And the sooner you accept that, the better.”
Willow gripped the armrests of the chair beneath her cape and steadied her resolve. She didn’t need a supposed metaphor-squawking hen to tell her whether or notbangswere a good idea. She squeezed her eyes closed and forced away thoughtsof every meme she’d ever seen declaring that cutting bangs was a cry for help because Willow didn’tneedhelp! She was happy…really and truly happy for the first time in years. A new look was simply a stamp of approval on what she deemed a new start.
“Do it!” she declared, blinking her eyes open and meeting Casey’s gaze.
***
Casey set down the blow dryer, gave Willow’s waves one final shake with her fingers, and then unsnapped and removed the cape.
“What do you think?”
The rest of the group was silent, waiting for Willow’s reaction.
She stared at the woman in the mirror who didn’t look completely different but also not completely the same. The long fringe hung just below her eyebrows, and her brunette waves seemed to have a bounce and fullness they’d lacked an hour ago. She looked younger, somehow. Less world-weary. And seeing it made Willow believe it.
A smile slowly spread across her lips until she was utterly beaming.
“I love it,” she replied, and everyone else let out a collective sigh.
“You’re gorgeous, girl!” Casey declared. “You’re going to drive ’em wild when you get up on thatstage in a few weeks.” She spun Willow so she was facing them.
“Thank you,” she told Casey. Then she surveyed everyone else in the room, a group of women she’d only known for a little over a month—save for Jenna—yet who all felt like family. “All of you, truly. This has been the best morning.”
Jenna climbed out of her chair. “So…now?” she asked the other women.
Willow’s brows furrowed, and her stomach instinctively tied itself in a knot. Something about Jenna’s tone wasn’t right.
Casey took a step back, allowing Jenna to pivot in front of Willow’s chair. Jenna pulled a phone out of her pocket and held it out toward Willow, and that was when Willow realized it washerphone she’d handed Jenna that morning before she got dressed.
Willow stood and let out a relieved laugh as she took her phone back. “Oh! Is that all this is about? You had me freaked out for a second there like you were about to dish out some really bad news.” She unlocked the phone and scanned the home screen. Nothing looked amiss. Then she glanced back up at her silent audience and laughed again, but this time it came out sounding a bit more nervous than she’d expected. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d have guessed you all were keeping me busy today so I would forget I even had a phone.”
Jenna barked out a laugh. “No! Of course not!”
Willow crossed her arms and raised her brows. “You are theworstliar, Jen.”
Her sister-in-law winced. “Okay, fine. I would have told you earlier, but after Lucy pecked your little toe, I realized you might not be ready.” She worried her bottom lip between her teeth. “We were going to pamper you either way… It was just a matter ofwhenwe told you.”
The knot in Willow’s stomach tightened and then twisted itself in a double knot. “Okay, now you’re freaking me out.” She looked at her phone again and noticed what she hadn’t a moment before. Willow was used to not being able to keep up with the notifications on her social media, but she prided herself on reading every comment and responding when she could. At most she’d have fifty to one hundred to read at the end of any given day unless she posted something like the bonfire post with Ash’s form obscured through the flame. But Willow hadn’t posted anything in over a week, yet the little red square on top of the Instagram thumbnail was now a rectangle indicating she had over fivethousandnotifications.
“What the…?” She looked up at Jenna. “You all saw whatever it was this morning, didn’t you? And you waited hours to tell me about it? Because of a hen pecking my toe?”
Beth pushed the hooded dryer up as she answered Willow with a nervous nod.
“Maddie woke upbeforethe crack of dawn, and Eli was the best and took one for the team, letting me sleep off our late night. Except once I was even semiconscious, I had to pee. And once I got out of bed to pee, I felt like I should brush my teeth, and once I brushed my teeth, well… I was wide awake, you know?”
Delaney rolled her eyes. “I just aged five years, Bethie.”
“Sorry!” Beth exclaimed. “I just wanted to put it all in perspective. Okay. So, what do we all do when we should be sleeping butcan’tsleep? We scroll social media. And because I just started following Ash, his profile keeps popping up at the top of my feed.”
“What did he post?” Willow asked, trying to keep her tone even. She trusted him, right? So whatever it was would be fine.Theywere fine.
“We waited because of Lucy pecking your toe and until we got confirmation onhowwhat happened…happened.” Jenna grabbed her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “I guess you should take a look.”
