Page 56 of Firecracker

Well, she’d head down to Michigan Avenue to hit up Lululemon or Under Armour for some leggings. Maybe she’d find a hair salon there she could pop into for a cut.

It was about a twenty-minute bus ride to Michigan and Oak Street. She eyed the overcast sky and tugged her sweater closer around her to ward off the damp chill as she strolled along Michigan. First up was Lululemon. But the prices there dismayed her. Somehow, she’d never really thought of Lululemon as expensive. She fingered the fabrics and studied a cute hoodie. Ah well.

She headed south on Michigan, peering into windows as she walked. Just as she arrived at the corner of East Superior, drops of rain pelted her and it started to pour. Spying the doors of Saks, she dashed toward them and nearly fell into the foyer. She made eye contact and exchanged a sheepish smile with the big dude at the door, shaking rain off her hair. Well, might as well look around inside for a few minutes. Maybe the rain would stop.

She strolled through the perfumes and cosmetics, pausing to look at the new makeup from MAC. She did need mascara. And that highlighting powder was so beautiful. But the mascara was forty bucks, and damn, she could buy mascara for five bucks at CVS.

She rode the escalator up. She could check out workout gear here, if they had some. Maybe they had a sale. She found a sale rack of active wear and flipped through it. She pulled out a pair of leggings and sighed. Damn, those were pretty. She flicked the price tag over and sighed again, shoving the leggings back onto the rack. Reduced to a hundred fifty dollars wasn’t going to cut it.

There was no point in even looking. But she couldn’t help but stop at the shoe salon to drool a little over a pair of glittery Jimmy Choo stilettos and an adorable pair of leopard-print booties. She smiled wistfully as she picked up a bootie.

After hiking farther down Michigan, popping in and out of various stores to dodge the rain, she found the Under Armour shop. Inside, she fingered cute, strappy sports bras, shorts, and bright-colored tops. She wanted it all. And having pretty clothes would motivate her to run. But the whole outfit added up to over two hundred dollars. It was just stupid to spend that much money on something she didn’treallyneed.

Emerging onto Michigan Avenue empty-handed, she turned her face to the sky as the sun tried to break through the clouds, and let out a long exhale. Oh well.

She spotted a hair salon on the other side of Michigan just down the side street. Carly’s Cuts. It didn’t look too fancy. A shampoo, cut, and blow dry would pick her up. She waited in the crowd for the lights to change, then crossed Michigan and continued down the street. Stepping inside, she eyed the price menu posted behind the counter. Sixty bucks.

She would have thought nothing of paying sixty bucks for a haircut at one time in her life. But now that too seemed…extravagant. Unnecessary.

She was changing. And that was okay.

She left the salon and walked to a bus stop to head home. She’d seen a salon not far from Shenanigans that she would check out…one of those chain places.

Sitting on the bus as it motored north, she leaned her head against the window. How spoiled she’d been, letting Michael pay for expensive fitness classes, pricey clothes to wear to fitness classes, and lavish hair treatments. Not to mention regular manicures and pedicures, which she’d been doing herself lately. She’d been so clueless. This was her reality check. Those things didn’t really matter.

She hadn’t grown up in that kind of world. Her family had been comfortable, but by no means wealthy. As a teenager, she and her friends had liked to spend money they earned at part-time jobs on trendy things, but never Christian Louboutin shoes, and if they got a manicure or pedicure, it wasn’t at a fancy downtown place.

She remembered one of the first times she’d gone shopping with Michael’s credit cards after he’d signed his big contract with the Cardinals, how she’d thought it was obnoxious and wasteful to spend a thousand dollars on a pair of shoes. Yet somehow, she’d become accustomed to that, to having beautiful things, basically whatever she’d wanted. Deep inside, that wasn’t her. This was good.

Magik Kuts’ price for a shampoo, cut, and blow dry was $21.99 and they could take her in right away. Perfect.

“I’m Imani,” the young woman said as she led Arden to a chair in front of a sink. Imani was probably about Arden’s age, maybe mid-twenties, with perfectly smooth brown skin, high cheekbones, impeccable eye makeup, and her hair in gorgeous natural curls. “How’s your day going?”

“Well.” Arden sank into the chair and let Imani drape a towel around her neck. “It’s been…eye-opening.”

“Hmm. You don’t sound happy about that.”

Arden smiled. “It’s a good thing.”

“Better to have your eyes open, than shut.” Imani started wetting down her hair.

“That is so true.”

Imani shampooed her hair twice then applied conditioner, giving her scalp a lovely massage that melted her bones. It only lasted a few minutes, but it was wonderful. Then she led her to a chair in front of a big mirror on the wall and draped a plastic cape around her.

“So what are we doing today?” She ran her fingers through Arden’s hair, lifting it and letting it fall. “Your hair’s really thick.”

“Yes. And it tends to be frizzy. I think I just want a trim and a nice blow out.”

“Do you want to keep these long layers?”

“Sure.”

“I’ll blend them in a bit more.” Imani studied her hair. “If I take about a half an inch off, that’s okay? That’ll get rid of these dry ends.”

“Perfect.”

She clipped up the top layers and started combing and snipping.

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