“I changed my mind?”
“No, you didn’t.You’re just panicking.”
“Well, yeah.”
“I’m surrounded by chickens,” Bailey muttered.“Do you want me to stop?”
Chloe started to say yes, then hesitated.“Do you promise it’s going to look good?”
“I’ve been cutting your hair for ten years.Have I ever made you look bad?”
Chloe bit her lip.“No.”
“Do you trust me?”
“Yes, but I’m scared.”
“Yeah, well, suck it up.”
Gwen snorted.“Nice pep talk.”
“Shut up, chicken.Am I stopping or not?”Bailey demanded.
“No.”Chloe thrust out the champagne flute she was clutching.“Fill me up.”
“Fill her up,” Bailey ordered and resumed snipping.
* * * *
“Maybe it’s the four glasses of champagne talking, but this is a good haircut.”
“Told you,” Bailey said smugly and popped a grape in her mouth.
They were in the living room, a fire in the fireplace and the fruit and cheese tray sent up by room service spread out on the coffee table.The second bottle of champagne they’d found in the bar lay empty on the rug, and Chloe was sprawled next to it, examining her reflection in the silver bucket.
“I mean, it’s short.”
“Really short,” Gwen chimed in from one of the sofas and nibbled on a wedge of aged Gouda.
“Stop trying to freak her out,” Bailey said.She was lying on the other sofa, her feet propped on a stack of pillows as she studied the room service menu.“Let’s order oysters.”
“I’m not trying to freak her out,” Gwen protested.“You think she can’t see it’s short?”
“I know she can see it, but if you keep talking about it, it’s going to freak her out.What about the oysters?”
“I’ve never had oysters.Are they good?”
“They’re slimy,” Chloe answered, still examining her hair.Her shoulder-length blonde tresses had been reduced to a short, shaggy cap.Spikey bangs dipped down to flirt with her eyebrows, somehow making her blue eyes look bigger, and she’d have sworn her mouth looked fuller.“It’s kinda punky, this haircut.”
“You should let me color it pink,” Bailey told her.“And oysters are not slimy.They’re delicious.”
“Now who’s freaking her out?”Gwen muttered.
“Does my mouth look fuller?”Chloe wanted to know.“I feel this haircut makes my mouth look fuller.”
“I don’t think so,” Gwen said, leaning over to peer into Chloe’s face.“But your cheekbones look cheekbonier.”
Chloe beamed.“Really?”
