Carlo muttered to himself for a few minutes as he got a complete look at her current hairdo. He finally could not contain his wrath as he turned to Jamie, his nearly black eyes flashing as he demanded, "Who put the baby’s head in the fan?"
"What?" Jamie asked, completely confused, assuming that Carlo must have mistranslated something.
"Nothing else would explain this….this…" he fumed as he held up the longest locks, "butchering!"
"Her mother has a hard time keeping her still," Jamie explained weakly as she watched Caitlin play placidly in the tub, looking like the calmest baby on earth.
Crossing his muscular arms over his chest, he turned slowly and cast a baleful glance at the tranquil child. He obviously decided that his point had been made since he did not continue his rant. Instead, he began to sing a delightful, lilting melody that included little tickles and much splashing of water. He worked very quickly, but with a sureness of vision that was unwavering. In less than ten minutes the cut was finished, and all agreed that it was absolute perfection. Now Caitlin’s hair was a perfect one-inch long all over her head. The delicate golden locks framed her face perfectly and made her look positively angelic. Carlo drained the water and took the hand held sprayer and carefully rinsed all of the hair off her chubby little body, then he wrapped her up in a big fluffy towel and handed her to Jamie. "Sit," he ordered as he guided the twosome to a chair. He produced his dryer, equipped with a diffuser, and very gently blew the new style dry in a matter of moments.
Both Ryan and Jamie were astounded at the transformation. The cut was absolutely perfect for Caitlin’s sweet little face, surrounding her beatific features like a gilt frame.
Catherine entered the shop just as Carlo finished drying the baby’s hair. She gasped in delight, saying, "You are an absolute artist!"
"Carlo, this is my mother, Catherine," Jamie said. "Mother, this is Giancarlo, who you’ve been hearing me praise for three years now."
Slipping into her lightly accented Italian, Catherine proceeded to charm the easily charmed man all the way down to his Gucci loafers. They bantered back and forth for a few moments, complimenting each other on their clothing and their favorite restaurants, and agreeing on the superiority of all things Italian. A client was sitting in the waiting area, looking pointedly at her watch, and Jamie caught her mother’s eye, indicating that they should leave.
"No, no, stay for a drink," Carlo insisted.
"But Carlo, you have another client," Jamie reminded him, as discreetly as possible.
He cast a quick glance at the woman, who now looked completely perturbed with him. Marching over to her, he pointed at his watch, at the assembled women gathered near his station, once again at his watch, and after a dramatic shrug of his shoulders, the woman’s face grew red and she stormed out of the shop.
"Arrivederci," he muttered, adding a dismissive wave of his hand as he walked back to the group. "Now, who would like a drink?"
Glancing at her watch, Catherine said, "A little Campari?"
"But of course!" he cried, seemingly never having heard of a better idea.
Over drinks for Catherine and Giancarlo, a bottle for Caitlin, and glasses of San
Pellegrino
for Jamie and Ryan, Catherine broached the subject of her own hair. "Carlo, I think I’m ready to make a change with my hair. What do you think?"
"I think I will make the Botticelli’s Venus weep with envy," he confidently declared, taking Catherine’s hand in his.
30 minutes later, three sets of critical, and one pair of vaguely interested eyes assessed Giancarlo’s creation. Catherine, Jamie, and Ryan all agreed that it was the cut that was designed for Catherine’s face, and Caitlin offered no objection, so they were essentially unanimous. In effect, the cut was a slightly longer version of Caitlin’s, with just a bit more length on the top and a little more tapering near the nape of her neck.
As Ryan took another step back to look at the style, she mused that when she'd first met Catherine, she had decided that the only element of her polished image that didn’t work to perfection was her haircut. This new, more modern style was the antidote to that one flaw, and Ryan considered that Catherine now could easily pass for Jamie’s older sister. "It’s absolutely perfect," she said appreciatively, smiling broadly at Giancarlo.
"Thank you, thank you," he said, sketching a bow. "I follow Michelangelo’s theory, you know."
"Ah… no, I didn’t, Carlo. How so?"
"I study the face and the personality of the woman, and then I take away all of the hair that does not belong," he explained, quite proud of himself. "Now that your mother looks even more beautiful, it’s your turn, Jamie," he said as he turned his attention to the younger Evans woman.
"I know I need a cut, but do you have time?"
"For you? Anything, cara mia. You’ve brought me such joy today that I should cut your hair for free." His face broke into a charming grin as he added, "But I will not!"
Ryan was sent for more sparkling water, and she decided to take Caitlin along for the walk. When they returned, Jamie was just finishing up, and Carlo looked at Ryan and said, "Come on, lover girl, you’re next."
"Me?" she asked, jerking a thumb at herself.
"Yes, you," he said with his hands on his hips. "Jamie, please explain to the beautiful one that hair grows. It must be cut to maintain the perfection of my creation!"
Ryan cast a helpless glance at Jamie but she just shrugged her shoulders in reply, knowing that Carlo would eventually win the argument. After a quick shampoo, Carlo set about removing no more than an eighth of an inch from his creation. Ryan ventured a suggestion that he cut her bangs a bit, but he sternly informed her that she was not allowed to have bangs any longer. He turned to Jamie and explained carefully with a lavish degree of hand gesturing why he would no longer allow the offending wisps of hair, and she nodded in agreement. The dialogue had gone on for at least three or four minutes, but when Jamie turned to Ryan she merely shrugged her shoulders and said, "No more bangs."
Rolling her eyes dramatically, Ryan wisely kept her opinion to herself, reasoning that Jamie really did seem to prefer her hair blown back from her face, and that was really all that mattered.
When they were all finished, Jamie went to settle the bill while Carlo carried Caitlin around the shop, introducing her to every other patron and stylist. She was having a ball and giggled nonstop as she met each person. She was snuggled up against Giancarlo as though she had known him all of her short life, and when Jamie returned, she was none too happy to leave his warm embrace.
Her happy little face turned to a sad grimace as they tried to put her back into her baby sling, and Carlo insisted on taking her back into his arms. "You don’t want to leave Carlo, do you?" he crooned. As long as she was wrapped in his toned, tanned arms, the baby was the picture of bliss. Turning to Jamie he ordered, "You must bring her in at least once a month! She is magnifica! And she loves me! See?" he cried as the baby cuddled and batted her eyes at him shamelessly.
"She certainly does," Jamie admitted. "I suppose we’ll just have to bring her over, Carlo."
He sidled up to Ryan, asking, "Why don’t you have your brother bring the baby when he returns?"
"Ahh, my brother is not gay, Carlo," Ryan informed him, surprised that Conor had not made a point of it.
He blinked his dark eyes at her, cocking his head slightly in question. "This affects me, how?"
Ryan blushed deeply, obviously misinterpreting Carlo’s intentions. "Oh! I thought you were…"
"Very short hair must be cut more often, beautiful one. Your brother and Caitlin need their hair cut every month. You, however, can come four times a year. Since he must come more often, he should bring the baby. What of that don’t you understand?"
"I understand perfectly, Carlo," she said, still blushing.
"Lesbians," he scoffed. "Always with the sex…sex…sex!"
After a tearful goodbye, the foursome left Giancarlo. Catherine wanted to do a little more shopping, so Jamie offered to stop at the store to pick up dinner. For some reason, Caitlin wasn’t unhappy to set off in a separate direction from her cousin, much to Ryan’s amazement.
As the pair began the long walk to their car, Ryan commented, "Boy, Caitlin is just crazy about your mom. I’ve never seen her this happy to be with a stranger."
"How many strangers is she ever around?" Jamie smirked, knowing that the Driscolls and the O’Flahertys took up most of Caitlin’s social calendar.
"Good point," Ryan grinned. Deciding to get another bit of business out of the way she added, "Come to think of it, she warmed up to another stranger yesterday."
"Really?" Jamie asked, not having been filled in on any of the rest of Ryan’s day. "I recall that you mentioned you took Caitlin out to lunch. Is that what you mean?"
Boy, she never misses a thing,
Ryan thought glumly
. She might not tell me she caught something, but she stores it all away up in that cute little head.
"Yep. Caitlin and I were at Mass yesterday, and Sara came in and joined us." She saw a twitch in Jamie’s cheek but her face otherwise remained impassive.
"So you had lunch together?"
"Yeah. We had lunch, and I told her all about everything I’d found out about what happened to me in high school. Caitlin really took to her, too," she said lightly. "Maybe she does prefer strangers."
"Anything else?" Jamie asked with studied casualness as Ryan again felt the weight of her prescience.
"Yes," she replied softly. "I told her I didn’t want to see her alone anymore. I said I would like to get to know her again, but only when you and I are together."
Jamie stopped in her tracks and stared at Ryan for a long while. "Why?" she asked simply, staring into her eyes.
Ryan pursed her lips and shifted her gaze to the ground for a long moment. Looking up, she sucked in a deep breath and let out a sigh. "Two reasons. One—I know it bothers you, and it’s not something that means enough to me to risk hurting you over. Two—I realized yesterday that I really have no current relationship with her. Everything we have is from seven years ago. When I’m with her, I keep imagining that we’re both like we were then, but we’re not that way any longer, so it’s not like a real relationship. And if I’m going to build a new relationship with her, I want you to be involved too."
Jamie nodded her head, but the mere set of her posture told Ryan that she didn’t buy that explanation. She looked up at Ryan and said, "It’s too painful…and too tempting, isn’t it?" Her eyes bored into Ryan’s, compelling her to admit the whole truth.
Ryan closed her eyes and nodded. She was moved deeply by Jamie’s thorough knowledge of her inner self, but this knowledge also left her feeling very vulnerable and exposed. It was both reassuring and terribly uncomfortable, and she was sure that duality showed on her face. "I told Sara how sorry I was that I had hurt you," she explained with a pained look on her face. "I explained that I would never put myself in another compromising position with her, and that precluded spending time with her alone. I wanted her to understand that my love for you is paramount, and that I would never do anything to make you doubt me again."
Jamie looked at the open, trusting expression on her partner’s face for a long time, finding herself completely reassured that the dark woman was telling the entire truth. She opened her arms and Ryan buried her head in her shoulder, soaking up the comfort as quickly as Jamie could offer it. "Thank you, Baby," she whispered. "Thank you for knowing how much it hurt me when you kissed her, and for doing what you have to do to make sure it never happens again. It means so much to me to be taken seriously."
Ryan lifted her head and said, "I do take you seriously, Love. And I take our relationship seriously. That’s why I went a little farther and told her some things that were pretty hard for her to hear."
They started walking again, Jamie confident that Ryan would tell all at her own pace. They had only traveled a few feet when she revealed quietly, "She asked me if I love you more than I loved her."
Jamie could feel her heart stop beating as her stomach revolted and caused her to feel a wave of nausea. She gripped Ryan’s hand harder than she should have, blinking at the startled cry her partner let out.
Ryan stopped and grasped her by the shoulders, turning her so that they stood face to face. "I told her that I couldn’t compare my feelings. I think it diminishes love to rate it or compare it. But I also told her that I would choose you in a heartbeat if given the choice."
Jamie was shocked that Ryan would tell Sara this in such a blunt fashion. "Why did you say that?" she gasped. "That must have hurt her!"
"I felt like I needed to be honest, Jamie. It’s unfair to both of us to have this thing between us."
"What do you mean by ‘thing’?" she asked, confused.
"It’s complex, Honey," Ryan admitted, releasing Jamie’s shoulders and starting to walk again. "I think we both feel that if things had worked out differently that year, we would still be together."
Jamie sucked in a breath, blinking slowly, trying to figure out where Ryan was going with this train of thought.
"But things didn’t go well, and we never got the chance to see how we would do as lovers. Now, I might be wrong, but I got the impression that Sara thinks that if you and I broke up, she and I would get back together and live happily ever after."