“You leave that to me.” I shoot him a wink and then rush to the storage room to fire off some texts. Silas doesn’t even blink an eye when I leave work an hour early that afternoon with a reminder called over my shoulder to get that liquor license.
“Betsy Sue, your house is lovely,” Mary London gushes, pulling Nana into a side hug as we invade her kitchen. “Thank you for letting us make a mess.”
The girlsas Nana affectionately calls us, have come over this evening to help me. All it took was one text to Mary London and suddenly I had an army of women willing to drop everything. It’s a bit dizzying, to be honest.
I told Mary London my idea for Harp and Hemline, and that I wasn’t sure I could pull it off, and next thing you know, Anna Claire was picking up ten dozen strawberries from a farmer she knows just south of Heaven. Mary London brought the dark chocolate and Darby Kate is sipping on a sparkling water as she regales us with the latest town gossip. Nana pulls out a double boiler from the pantry and Palmer, well, Palmer said we had the snacks covered, so she’s brought the bleach and hair products.
“Stop fidgeting, woman,” she says with all the authority of a mama with multiple little ones.
I freeze, cape over my shoulders and hair already piled on top of my head with three clips in it. Palmer used to be a hairdresser before she had her kiddos. She intends to go back to work once the youngest is in school, but until then, she likes to keep her skills fresh. I’m not sure what that means for my hair, but she said she has visions of a chocolatey brown with caramel highlights. My stomach rumbled at the description, so I’m letting her do it. It’s just hair, right?
“You must have a million things to do before tomorrow, Mary London and Darby Kate,” I say, guilt eating away at me. Here it is the night before the Battle of the Boutiques and instead of making sure all their model outfits are ready to go, they’re both in Nana’s kitchen making chocolate-covered strawberries for Silas’s boutique.
“Psh!” Mary London swipes a hand through the air, bracelets jingling on her wrist. “Don’t you worry ’bout a thing, darlin’. I’m happy to help make Harp and Hemline a success. Daddy’ll have to eat crow.”
She lets out a maniacal giggle that makes the rest of us laugh too. Even when she’s being mean, Mary London is charming as hell. Scratch that…charming as heaven.
“You know, you sure do seem to be putting in a lot of work for Silas’s boutique,” Darby Kate drawls before shooting me a wink.
“Oh you shush, you little matchmaker,” Anna Claire hoots from where she’s washing each and every strawberry in the sink before placing them on a towel to dry.
“That man is a good one,” Nana declares. The other ladies are quick to agree.
“We’re not…dating. But yes, I do want to see his boutique be successful.” There. That sounded pretty good.
There’s a pause in the conversation before each of them bursts out laughing.
“What?”
“Quit movin’!” Palmer tilts my head the way she wants it, then paints on her bleach and wraps it up in crinkly foil.
“Well, I, for one, would love to see you two date,” Mary London says diplomatically.
“Is that what we’re calling it these days? Dating?” Anna Claire hoots. “More like quickies in the break room, huh?”
My ears go hot. My nana is in the room!
“We are not?—”
“You keep telling yourself that,” Palmer drawls, then tilts my head the other direction.
I fold my arms over my chest beneath the cape. Sheesh. It’s the storage room, not the break room. And how do they know about that?
Thankfully, the conversation turns in a thousand other directions as we spend the next two hours dipping each and every strawberry into chocolate and sliding it into the extra refrigerator in the garage that Nana cleared out for us. Palmer washes my hair out in the sink and is ruthlessly pulling a round brush through it as she blow-dries it. When she’s done, most of the cleanup is done too, which makes me feel guilty. All I did was sit here and get my hair done while they did all the work.
“Well, what do we think?” Palmer says, stepping back and spinning me around to face the ladies.
Nana’s hand goes to her heart like she’s overwhelmed. Mary London claps her hands and bounces on her bare toes. Darby Kate snaps a picture on her cell phone. Anna Claire wolf whistles, hurting our ears.
“That’ll catch Silas’s eye,” Darby Kate declares with an eyebrow waggle.
Little does she know I already have. And that feels really good right about now. However, I’m more concerned about making the event tomorrow a success so we drive a ton of traffic to Harp and Hemline.
“Thank you, Palmer.” I go to give her a hug, and while it feels awkward to me, she flings her arms around my shoulders and hugs the stuffing out of me. “Oof!”
“Girl, you’re going to wow the men of Heaven and then burn up the cash register at Harp and Hemline.” Mary London rams into me as she joins the hug. Pretty soon everyone’s in on the hug, even Nana.
I should feel claustrophobic with all this touching and close proximity, but oddly, I don’t. I feel…warm and fuzzy.
