‘I’m good… good as gold.’ The phone went dead.
But after thirty-three years of friendship, Sabrina knew she wasn’t.
A weary Sabrina walked down the long drive to Kevrinek and, on reaching the security gate, pressed the intercom. After realising she’d destroyed not only the welcome note but Belle’s mobile number that was on the back of it into a thousand pieces with her boot, she was thankful to hear the woman’s voice at the end of it.
‘Oh, Belle, just the person, it’s Sabrina a.k.a. Jilly. I assume Isaac told you?’ She cringed at the admission to her original lie.
‘Never mind all that. Are you OK?’
‘Yes, yes fine but you know you said if I needed anything, anything at all. Well. The thing is…’
Chapter Seven
Afew days later, Sabrina sat at the kitchen table of the cottage, a towel around her shoulders.
‘Sabrina, are you one hundred percent sure you want me to do this?’ Belle’s voice was hesitant.
‘Yep, I’ve never been more certain.’
‘I’m far more used to cutting umbilical cords than hair.’
‘Ew. OK. But how hard can a pixie cut be? It’s just a messy old crop, really. And it will use far less hair dye once it’s all cut off. It’s just a win, win all round,’ Sabrina added unconvincingly as Belle took the one mirror down from the bathroom wall and propped it up with the iron on the table in front of them. She turned the old TV to an angle and pushed a DVD into the side of it.
Sabrina shut her eyes as big swathes of her lovely, shiny dark locks began falling to the stone floor of the cottage. She could even sense Beethoven wondering if the pair of them had gone completely mad.
‘There!’ Belle looked exhausted as she ruffled the now extremely short hair of the pretty woman in front of her an hour later. ‘Now to put the bleach on– I know how to do that at least.’
Sabrina looked at herself fully in the mirror and blew out an exaggerated breath. ‘It kind of suits me.’
‘Itreallysuits you.’ Belle started painting on the blonde hair colour. ‘And I can’t believe we got there by following a step-by-step hair cutting DVD.’
‘Yes, what an eBay find that was! Vidal Sassoon eat your heart out.’ They both laughed.
‘And thank God for you having antique technology.’ Sabrina fiddled with the remote.
‘I know! Dreadful, isn’t it? When we kitted this place out, I said to Isaac no one has DVD’s anymore, but he didn’t care. He didn’t even want me to put a TV in here. We rarely watch TV at home, you see. This one was in my old bedroom at my parents’ house. When he’s not painting, he’s reading, and I have to say I do watch stuff on my iPad. If he knew I never missed an episode ofLove Island,I’m sure he’d leave me.’
They laughed again.
‘OK. To finish the look.’ Belle pulled out a pair of huge tortoiseshell spectacles from her bag and gently placed them over Sabrina’s ears. ‘They’re just a plain lens, I used to wear them for effect.’
‘Wow! I look almost intelligent.’
‘And…’ She handed Sabrina a little silver ring. ‘For your nose.’
Sabrina regarded it dubiously. ‘Not sure about that.’
‘I think you should. It’ll give you a kind of preppy, trendy look, rather than your usual Hollywood glamour. And we need to make sure we’ve done the job properly.’
Sabrina put the faux ring in place. ‘Ha! Look at me! I look boyish.’
‘A very pretty boy at that.’ Belle smiled. ‘And if I do say so myself, we’ve done a pretty good job of disguising you, my friend.’
‘Thank you, thank you so much.’ Sabrina bit her lip. ‘You could be a stylist at this rate. But you’re a midwife, I guess, from your earlier comment? What an amazing profession.’
‘I used to be a baby bringer, but I’m more of a general nurse and carer now. I do agency work as I prefer the flexibility. That’s how I met Isaac, actually.’
‘Good for you– and that sounds intriguing.’ Sabrina pursed her lips in the mirror. They looked fuller now she was nigh on bald.
