Rachel looked over at Jake. “How do you feel about that?”
“I’m fine with it.” Jake ruffled Emma’s hair. It was short, yes-but it wasn’t gone.
That was something Rachel wasn’t sure Emma was prepared for. It was one thing to donate a length of your hair to charity. It was another thing altogether to shave your head completely bald.
Rachel took a different tact. “How did your mom react to you getting your hair cut for Locks of Love?”
“She went crackers.” Emma grinned. “I got grounded for a month.” Rachel sighed and said gently, “I’m not sure this is such a good idea.”
“I can do it with a parent’s permission, right?” Emma’s jaw tightened as she nodded toward Jake. “Well this parent says I can do it.” Rachel tried to let her down gently. “Cutting your hair was one thing, sweetie, but shaving your head…”
“I’ll do it,” Joshie chimed in. Rachel glared at him and he grinned. “Go ahead, fire me.”
“Joshie…”
He was already putting an arm around their shoulders, ushering them into the back. “Come on, girls, let’s get out the clippers and go wild.” Rachel stared after them, sure she should stop him, but not saying anything.
Instead, she turned to Jake and asked, “Are you sure about this?”
“I’m sure it’s what Emma wants, and she’s a little like her mother in that regard. If she wants it, she’s going to get it.” Jake shrugged and then looked at her with eyes so hungry the man might have been starving. “Besides, it gave me a good excuse to come see you.”
Rachel felt heat filling her face. The way he looked at her, everything was out in the open, so raw and naked.
“Listen, Jake…”
He moved closer, not close enough to touch but close enough she could feel his heat and hear his whispered words, “I really want to kiss you right now.”
“Don’t…” she breathed, glancing over her shoulder. The girls were back at Joshie’s station around the corner and couldn’t see them, but she could hear them giggling.
“Oh, I won’t…but I want to.” He grinned. “My sixteen-year-old daughter would just tell us to go get a room. Which I am very tempted to do.”
“Might be more comfortable than a limo.” Now she was really blushing. She could feel it.
“Oh I don’t know.” He moved closer enough she could feel him, long and lean and solid. “I didn’t have too many complaints.”
“Me either.” She felt herself giving in and tried to fight it.
His breath was sweet and smelled wintergreen. “I was hoping you’d say that.” She tried again to distance herself, but only verbally. She didn’t step back. “It’s not you, Jake…”
His hands moved to her upper arms, squeezing gently. “Oh, you mean the reason you haven’t answered any of my phone calls?”
She nodded helplessly.
“Well it can’t be you,” he insisted, searching her eyes with his. “Because you, Ms.
Rapunzel, are pure perfection.”
She knew he was going to kiss her and she didn’t stop him. His lips were warm and soft and just as sweet as she remembered.
She gasped when they parted, pleading for mercy. “Jake…”
“And if it’s not me…” He kissed the corner of her mouth. “And it’s not you…” Another kiss, this one at her jaw line. “Then what could it possibly be?” Fiery kisses rained down over her throat and she moaned softly, her lust for him already igniting in her core. Joshie had been right. This was the reason she hadn’t answered his phone calls, she admitted to herself, feeling his thigh sliding between hers, his hands moving at the small of her back. She couldn’t help herself. She wanted him.
“Hey Rachel, where’s our body paint?” Joshie called from around the corner.
They broke apart and Rachel straightened her skirt and checked her wig reflexively, realizing the adhesive remover was working. It was very loose.
“Our… what?” She gave Joshie a startled response as he came around the corner. Jake took a guilty step back but she could still feel his heat and it made her breath come too fast.
Joshie rifled through the drawers under the cash register. “They left some here last month, for the model shoot they did for Vogue remember?”
“It’s…” Rachel slipped in beside him, opening the bottom drawer, the catch-all, the salon’s version of a junk drawer. “Here it is.” It was a little kit, including brushes. She handed it over, frowning. “What are you going to do with body paint?” Joshie grinned. “Come see.”
Jake and Rachel found the two girls sitting in chairs next to each other, both of them shaved completely, shockingly bald, as promised. The sight paralyzed Rachel with emotion-fear, sadness, pride. Her eyes brimmed with tears and she willed them not to fall.
“Oh Em…” Jake took a step toward his daughter and then stopped. He seemed paralyzed too.
Emma perked up when she saw her father. “Isn’t it awesome?”
“Totally awesome,” Jake said finally, his voice a little hoarse.
“Time to unleash my inner artist.” Joshie opened the body art kit and was doing something with one of the brushes. “Are you girls ready?”
“He’s going to paint our heads for the party, Daddy,” Emma explained as Joshie’s brush began to move over the girl’s scalp. She had a lovely-shaped head, round and smooth.
“What a great idea.” Jake gave Joshie an approving smile.
“You two are going to be the belles of the ball.” Joshie returned the smile and then focused his efforts back on his work.
“There’s a class party tonight,” Liv chimed in, watching her friend get her scalp painted. “I was too scared, but Emma decided we were both going to shave our heads and make a big entrance.”
“I think that’s a great idea.” Rachel sat down in the chair beside Liv, blinking back her tears. She wanted to touch the girl’s smooth scalp and restrained herself. Liv was smiling, probably more happy than she’d been in a long time, and Rachel was glad she had a friend like Emma. Nina Malden’s determination had clearly been harnessed in her daughter for a good purpose. She’d never seen anyone do something so selfless, so courageous, so kind.
“You know what, Joshie?” Rachel reached up, feeling her wig slip as she touched it. The adhesive had worn completely off. She glanced over at Jake, feeling her stomach clench. She had tried to tell him, but maybe it would be easier this way. She could just show him instead. She slipped the wig off her head and let it fall into her lap, revealing her own chemo-hairdo. “Let’s paint the town red.” The girls gaped. Rachel didn’t have the courage to look over at Jake to see his reaction. Liv seemed to know right away, making the connection faster than Emma did.
“What kind?” Liv asked, her eyes soft and wet.
“Same as yours,” Rachel replied softly. “Leukemia. We can be twins.”
“I’m so sorry.” Emma’s eyes filled with tears and then all three of them were crying-and then laughing, and then hugging in a big circle.
Joshie tsked and cooed and ushered them back into their seats so he could finish his work. He painted all three to perfection-purple paisley for Emma and blue bird’s wings for Liv and orange and black tiger stripes for Rachel. In the end, they all had so much fun Rachel hadn’t realized Jake slipped out until his daughter called for him.
“Daddy! Come see!”
Rachel touched her head self-consciously, glancing into the mirror. She looked strange, foreign, her eyes bigger and rounder in her face. The tiger stripes made her look wild, feral. What was Jake going to say? And then, as Emma called for him, wandering toward the lobby, Rachel realized he was gone. He had found out she was sick and had left, unable to handle the news.