Page 23 of Coveted By the Bear

I saw nervousness in Sadey’s wide eyes, but above that there was a brave determination. I liked her more for it.

“I’ll stay here with Mira. We have girlie stuff to take care of.”

That sounded downright terrifying, but no eight words had ever scared off two men faster, and I soon found myself completely alone with Sadey McCreedy, youngest heir to the McCreedy fortune. I was intimidated into silence. Hell, I was surprised I wasn’t in a stress coma yet, but she took charge and led me into my room.

“I have something I want to show you, but I don’t want you to get upset. Caleb told me a little bit about you,” Sadey explained. She looked at the hurt on my face and specified. “All good stuff, I swear. But he said you wouldn’t accept clothes. I’m going to beg you to reconsider. Woman to woman.”

I had already started shaking my head. I was nobody’s charity case, and it didn’t sit well with me that he’d been telling people I needed clothing.

She turned away from my negative answer and rifled through one of the bags against the wall nearest the empty dresser.

“Don’t say no until you see this,” she said through a smile as she pulled out a white summer dress with a light pink satin ribbon around the waist. The straps were thick, made to fan the tips of feminine collar bones.

I bit my lip. It really was the most beautiful dress I’d ever seen in person. It seemed Sadey could feel my resolve falter because she pounced.

“I swear,” she whispered earnestly. “I’ll never, ever tell anyone I gave you these.”

“Where’d you get them?” I asked, standing on tiptoes and stretching my neck to peer into the opened bag.

“They were mine. I already had them bagged up to take into the city. I wanted to donate them, but then Caleb said he thought you were about the same size as me.” Sadey pulled shirts, pants, jeans, shorts, dresses, and shoes out one by one. “If you don’t like any of them, we’ll re-bag them and donate the cast offs.”

My eyes kept traveling back to the white sundress.

Sadey grinned brightly. “Try it on.”

And try it on I did. Except I didn’t stop with the sundress. I tried on every single piece of clothing Sadey had brought. A lot of the colors were made for Sadey’s skin tone. She had blond hair like Caleb and fair skin, and some of the pastel colors that looked so amazing against her complexion made me look like I had jaundice, but who was I to be choosey? In the end, I only tossed two shirts that were much too short back into the bag.

My emotions were everywhere. As if I had just gone on the longest shopping trip in creation, I was exhausted. On the other hand, I had actually had fun trying on the beautiful clothes, knowing that tomorrow morning I would wake up and have a choice.

I laughed, the noise sounding foreign. I plopped on top of the pile of clothes on my bed and pretended I was swimming. Sadey had taken up the chair beside my bed and laughed as she folded up three pair of jeans that were way too loose on me but would be helpful during the cold winter.

“Mira, do you want me to cut your hair?” she asked suddenly, as if she were saying it before she lost the nerve to do so.

I hadn’t had my hair cut in a really long time. Not from lack of wanting, but from lack of resources.

“Do you know how?” I asked hopefully.

“I’m going to beauty school after I graduate. I cut a lot of my friends’ hair already. I can do yours, too, but only if you want me to.”

I sat up and looked at my unruly tresses in the rusted mirror above my dresser. True, my dark locks were overwhelming, but what would I hide my face with? Then another thought occurred, one that was frightening for what it could mean to me and my stupidly hopeful heart. Would Caleb like it?

“How would you cut it?” I asked.

“Well, you can choose, but if it were me, I’d keep it long.”

A wave of relief washed over me that she got it.

She continued. “You have a really pretty natural wave, and if we cut some of the weight off and layer it up, your curls would be looser and more manageable. It would look really cute in a ponytail, too, if you ever felt like putting it up.”

That actually sounded kind of perfect. “Okay,” I said. “When do we start?”

The cool day told of autumn approaching, but we decided to cut my hair outside on the front porch. Sadey had washed my hair in the bathroom sink, and now I leaned comfortably into an old chair with my feet crossed at the ankle over the creaking front porch railing. The pull and play of my hair was relaxing, and I couldn’t help but be lulled into a state of half-consciousness. Beautiful moments were rare in this life, and I was determined to enjoy this one thoroughly.

“Is Becca really Caleb’s girlfriend?” I asked drowsily.

Sadey remained silent, and I regretted having ruined the moment. I don’t know why I’d felt comfortable enough to say anything at all, much less an embarrassingly transparent question like that one.

“There,” she said, snipping the scissors neatly one last time. She placed the scissors and comb precariously on the splintered railing and took a seat on the front steps. She didn’t answer my question until her back was settled against a large wooden pillar. With a faraway look into the woods, she said, “I don’t know that Caleb’s ever had a girlfriend.”