Page 47 of Noble Neighbor
“You must be Sunny. I’m Carol.” To Sunny’s amazement, the woman enveloped her in a quick hug.“About time you popped in here, girl,” Carol continued,her eyes raking over Sunny’s hair with glee.
What to reply to that? Sunny went with a mumbled, “I’ve been busy.”
“Totally understandable. You’ve done a lot of work to your place.”
Carol took her by the shoulders and turned her to face the floor. Sunny encountered five pairs of eyes trained on her. “Ladies,” Carol called out, “this here is Sunny Jones from Chicory Lane.”
Liking the sense of belonging the moniker gave her, she relaxed, figuring to just go with the flow and let Carol take her around and introduce her to the three patrons, the other stylist, and the nail technician.
She received the most scrutiny from a lady named Lorena sporting a head full of foils. “Frank has it right. Youarea fine woman.”
Ah. This was Frank’s Rena. She’d heard about his lady friend. “Thank you?”
To which Lorena burst into gales of laughter. “Oh honey, you can thank me later.”
The woman had been away for a couple of months helping her daughter and son-in-law settle into lifefollowing the birth of triplets. “Congratulations on your grandbabies,” Sunny said. “I can’t even imagine having three at once.”
“It’s taken them some time to get a handle on things,” she agreed, beaming. And then nudged her head to the side. “Go with Carol. I’ve got some calls to make while she sorts you out. But we’ll talk again before you leave here.”
“Should I worry?” Sunny whispered to Carol as the woman sat her before a mirror.
“Nah. Lorena is harmless.”
*
“Bella, I am so screwed,” Sunny groaned, her head hitting the wooden counter with a thump. With only a half hour to go before school finished, she’d decided to pick the kids up instead of them catching the bus home. Whining to her friend about the unfairness of life while doing so was a bonus.
But herfriendonly laughed as she continued to stack cups beside the coffee machine. “I truly don’t see whatyour problem is. You’re sporting a sassy new hairstyle,bought a couple of new outfits, and a super sexy man has agreed to be your date to a wedding. Sounds like a pretty okay life to me.”
“He’s not my date!”
And just how had she gone from having her hair done to buying new clothes to partnering Oliver to a wedding in the short timeframe of one morning?Easy. It’s called being ambushed by a pushy and interfering woman. The incident had taken place the moment Carol had finished wrapping the foils, making Sunny the focus of a sly and determined Lorena.
“I can’t gatecrash your niece’swedding,” Sunny had uttered, horrified at the woman’s earlier pronouncement.
“It’s not gatecrashing. You’ll be Oliver’s plus-one.”
“I can’t,” she repeated, having already refused Oliver when he’d asked.
“Why?”
“I … I can’t leave my girls.”
The woman chuckled. “Oh, dearie. They’re invited.What’s a wedding without kids running around causing havoc, giving my sister a few moments?”
Sunny made another desperate attempt. “Lorena, you can’t justpushme onto Oliver.” She battled to keep her voice down.
“No pushing involved. I’ve already cleared it with him.” The woman held up her cellphone. “A few minutes ago. He said it’s a fine idea,” she added with glee.
“He did?” she croaked. Of course, he’d said that.She was avoiding him — again — much to his confusion.Sunny knew she was blowing hot, then cold, but dammit, after the applesauce incident she realized anew there was no future for them. She made one excuse after the other to not get together, and he’d’ve jumped at the chance when Lorena called.
“Yes, dear,” Lorena continued, patting Sunny’s hand. “In fact, he sounded quite excited about the prospect.”
I’m sure he did.“I’ve got nothing to wear.” Any woman would understand that excuse.
“Oliver said you’d say something like that, but don’t worry, after your hair’s done, we’re popping across to Merle’s.”
“Oliver said ….Merle’s?”
