Page 21 of Not Our Daughter

“Yes,” he said.

“Does it even run?”

“Like a charm,” he said. “At least it did a month ago, when I was last here.”

Cole climbed into the driver’s seat, stuck the key in the ignition, and the vehicle started right up. “Hallelujah,” he whispered. Lisa was already busy tossing Jade’s backpack into the back of the van. She returned with a small gray bag, set it on the ground, unzipped it, and pulled out a black leather hair kit. She looked over at Cole, who was checking things out on the van’s dashboard.

“You still want to do this?” she asked, holding up the bag.

He turned. “Yes, for sure.”

He quickly got out, sat on the dirt ground right in front of Lisa, while Jade curiously watched what was going on. Lisa unzipped the bag and pulled out a pair of hair scissors. While Jade gasped, Lisa began chopping off big locks of his wavy hair, working quickly, getting it all as close to the scalp as possible. Then she switched to a battery-powered hair trimmer and began going to town, until his head was completely shaved. A pile of hair sat on his shoulders and on the ground around him. When she was finished, Cole took the hair trimmer from her and started working on his beard, using the shortest trimming option available to him. Within minutes, nearly all his head and facial hair had completely vanished. It felt strange, considering he’d had the longer hair and the beard for the entire time they’d lived in Colorado.

“I don’t even recognize you,” Lisa said, shaking her head.

“That’s the point, right?”

“I guess. It just ... sucks.”

“Yeah, I know. But it’ll grow back.”

“Dad, you look so weird,” Jade said.

He held up the trimmer. “You’re next.”

Her eyes went wide. “No!”

He forced a smile. “Just kidding.”

“That’s not funny.”

But she smiled back at him, which was nice to see. They could all use a little levity right now. It was important for them to survive this both emotionally and physically.

Lisa pulled two black baseball caps out of the bag. One was branded with the University of Colorado, the other the Denver Broncos.

“Which one do you want?” she asked Jade.

“I have to wear a cap?”

“Yes, and stuff all your hair inside. Unless you want to go Dad’s route.”

“No, thanks. I’ll take the CU one.”

Lisa handed it over, placed the Broncos cap on her own head, and began shoving as much of her hair as possible up underneath. Jade did the same.

“I need to patch up your arm,” Lisa said to Cole. “That’s a pretty gnarly gash.”

She pulled a first aid kit out of the bag, cleaned the wound with antiseptic wipes, wrapped his arm with gauze, and then sealed it with white medical tape to stop it from bleeding any further. Then she asked Jade to put the bag into the back of the van.

Lisa leaned into his ear, whispered, “You going to tell me what really happened?”

“Yes,” he whispered back. “Later.”

She huffed. “Fine.”

Cole slid open the back door to the van’s cargo area. “Okay, both of you climb in the back. We need to get moving.”

Jade walked over, poked her head inside. “Wait, there are no seats back here.”

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