Page 253 of Steeling Her
“Yeah, she finally let us in. I got this, don’t worry,” she says to my brother, obviously. If it’s not him, we have a problem. “I love you, talk soon.” She hangs up and puts her phone into her purse.
“Carter, I say this with love and with good intentions, you need to shower.” Haley walks past me and towards the windows to open up my blinds, allowing the light come in. I sniff my shirt to see if she’s right.
Okay, maybe I do smell a little bad, but she’s also being super dramatic,I think to myself.
“I’ll go have one now,” I say as I close the door after they step inside.
“We’ll take care of everything else. You just have a nice, hot shower and we’ll get going.” Danielle shoos me into the bathroom where my shower is and tells me everything is taken care of.
“I thought you said you had food?” I question them as I’m being pushed into my bathroom.
“Yeah, it’s in the car. You can eat and sit in the car when we’re on our way.” Haley waves it off as she continues to let the light into my home. “What are you, Dracula?” she mutters.
“Wait, where are we going?” I ask and Danielle throws a towel at me from the cupboard, ignoring my question. “Danielle, where are you taking me?” I ask again.
She stands at the door and says, “Shower.” She closes it and leaves me standing there in utter confusion. “I don’t hear the shower running!” she sings through the door like she would to her own child. I reach my hand in and let the water fall.
I wait for it to heat up a little before I get in. I strip off my clothes and kick them into the laundry basket as they clearly need a wash. I release my hair from the bun I put on and throw the scrunchy on the shelf underneath the mirror. As soon as I feel the room heating up, I know it’s time for me to get in.
I start to rinse my hair and gather it under the water, allowing it to soak. I place some shampoo into my hand and feel it lather my head as I gently massage it into my scalp for a bit of TLC.
I sigh deeply as I feel the hot water run down my body, soothing it as time goes on.
Then, Haley pounds on the door and threatens me that she’ll turn the cold faucet in the kitchen on if I don’t hurry up and get going. So, I rush my shower and got out quickly, got dressed, and meet the two girls in the kitchen where I could see they were spraying air freshener around the room.
“Okay, I’m ready,” I say with damp hair. They rushed me, so I I didn’t have the time to dry it. Either way, the heat outside will do the honors.
“Normally, I would tell you to go back inside to dry your hair, but you have the most perfect waves when you don’t do it, so it’ll go great with where we’re going and what you’re wearing.” Haley eyeballs me to see if she approves. “The outfit is fine. We don’t have time to go and change, so come on. Let’s go.” She takes a hold of my hand and drags me towards the door.
“But where are we going?” I ask as I grab my purse and keys as I’m being dragged from one end to the other without stopping.
“It’s a surprise. It’s a girls’ day out, so all you need to do is to relax and enjoy yourself.” Haley winks as I watch Danielle shut the front door behind her and lock it with my keys that I threw to her.
“Fine.” I grunt once more before I’m thrown into the backseat where the food rests opposite to me. The entire car smells of Chick-fil-A, just what I like.
I check inside and see a grilled chicken sandwich with a side of waffle fries, ketchup, and—of course—my favorite lemonade. They know my order.
“Are you still hangry or are you feeling better?” Danielle asks me, twisting around in her seat to face me as we stuff our faces with the food they had ordered that’s, miraculously, still hot enough to eat. I nod in response; I’m still stuffing my mouth with the food, not able to speak a sentence. I’ve been eating a balanced meal for a while now, so it’s good to have a cheat meal every once in a while to keep you sane. Plus, prior to the breakup, I was sick to my stomach about having to talk to Ted, so I didn’t eat much. Then the few days after, I was the same thinking it would be all over with once I did the deed.
It took time to readjust, and it still is taking some time, but I am over it.
As we drive to where we are going, which is somewhere only they know, I wonder why it’s such a big secret or why they can’t tell me.
When we park near our destination, I still don’t recognize where we are. I step out of the car due to the colors and beauty of my surroundings. A gorgeous pink cherry blossom tree sways in the wind with the peak of blue ocean water behind it that meets the sky in the middle.
It’s truly stunning.
“You like it?” Danielle shut the door and smiles over the top of the car at me.
“Yeah.” I sigh after exhaling a deep breath I didn’t know I was holding.
“Come on.” Haley shuts the trunk of the car, bringing two bags in either hand. “You haven’t seen the best part yet.” She grins. I close the door and send Danielle a look, only for her to give nothing away. It looks like the girls packed a bag for me while I was in the shower.
As the three of us walk down towards the shoreline, we come into contact with a few people walking up and down the strip of quaint shops aligned to one side.
A mixture of holistic shops and boho-chic boutiques occupies the strip.
“Okay, so here we are,” Haley says as she climbs up the decking that leads onto a yacht.
