“You guys are going to Birmingham tomorrow for her appointment, aren’tyou?”
“Yeah.”
A slight frown fell over her face. “Call me and let me know how things go, okay? I don’t want to bother you if, well… I just don’t want to bother you until you’re back andeverything.”
“Okay.” I forced a smile before heading down thehall.
______
The smell of nail polish remover and spa bubbles stirred up a headache. I’d been staring at the brightly colored bottles of polish for five minutes, going between my go tos: Pink Margarita and Be My Valentine, while trying to ignore the glares I kept getting from Daisy Benson who was sitting underneath the hairdryer.
“You always get Be My Valentine,” Momma called from the beautician’sdesk.
Predictable. I had always been so predictable. My gaze drifted over to the vibrant seafoam green with glitter and I plucked it up with asmile.
When I took a seat next to Momma she glanced at the bottle. “That’s new.” She picked it up. “Diva Mermaid,” she read the label. “Hmmm.”
“I just wanted somethingdifferent.”
Judy took my hands in hers, rubbing over my knuckles. “You’ve been washing your hands toomuch.”
“It happens when you work in ahospital.”
“You need to start using lotion…” she tsked. “So, I heard Meg is talking to Trevoragain.”
“What?” I wrinkled mybrow.
“Georgie said she’d seen Meg’s car over at Trevor’s several times last week, not that it’s any of her business, but that lady ain’t got nothing better to do with her time than stand at that window, and of course she has to come in here blabbing about all the things.” Judy rolled hereyes.
Meridith, one of the nail technicians, set a bowl of soapy water in front of me on the manicure table. She glanced across the room at the wall of hairdryers before leaning down and saying, “Well, I heard he’s seeing LoriBenson.”
“Last week he was over at my granddaughter’s,” Ms. Smith chimed in from one of the salon chairs. Meridith gasped before walking back to the hair washing station. “Told her mother he was bad news and she might oughta take Camille to the clinic to gettested.”
“Well, I never…” Judy said. “See, sweet Hannah’s always had her head on straight. You’ve known better than to be boycrazy.”
Momma patted myleg.
“Still blows my mind that you and Meg McKinney are like Pete and Repeat.” Judy shooed a fly away from the table. “Have been ever since you werelittle.”
“She’s my bestfriend…”
“I know, she’s just so…” Judy’s eyes widened for a moment, then she shook her head. “Strongwilled?”
I glared ather.
“Oh, I know she’s a sweet girl, I just like to give you a hard time.” She grabbed the cuticle pusher and started shoving my overgrown cuticles back on mynailbed.
The bell over the door jingled and Judy glanced at the entrance behindme.
“Oh, Lord have mercy,” Judy whispered, setting my fingertips in the bowl of warm, sudsy water. “You ladies prepared for another episode ofAs the World Turns?” “Hey there, Betty.” A radiantly fake smile spread across her lips. “How are thegirls.”
“Oh, they’re wonderful.” The overpowering smell of White Shoulders nearly knocked me over when Betty fell down into the chair beside me and set her generic red nail polish on the table. One of the new nail technicians wheeled over on the rolling chair and went to work pulling out files andclippers.
“How are you doing, Claire?” Bettyasked.
“Oh, hanging inthere.”
“We been praying for you in SundaySchool.”
