They both started calling me every night, and before the end of the week, I was spending hours on the telephone and on the computer again, sometimes messaging with both of them at the same time. With most of Kaylee’s friends like Sarah filling in to help me with the schoolwork, even cheating on pop quizzes to get me passing grades, I felt happier than ever. Saturday night was promising to be a great time.
The only dark spot came when Daddy came home on Friday to tell me that Mother had suffered something of a setback, just when Dr. Jaffe had thought she was making progress. Apparently, she was practically catatonic.
“Maybe I should go see her, then,” I said.
He surprised me by nodding. “Dr. Jaffe and I discussed it today. He agrees. We’ll go on Sunday if there is no improvement in her condition.”
“Okay, Daddy. I’ll do whatever you and the doctor decide.”
He smiled, then hugged and kissed me.
It was hard to describe to anyone my age the feeling this gave me. Every friend I or Kaylee had took their parents’ love and affection for granted. Kaylee and I were afraid to compete for it, and our parents, of course, Mother especially, were so careful about how they showed it. When you had to share love the way we did, it was better not to have it at all. Now, however, I had it all.
I had never spent as much time preparing myself for a party or a date as I did on Saturday. Anyone would think it was my very first. Daddy surprised me Saturday morning at breakfast by telling me he had called Mother’s hairstylist and made an appointment for me for late morning.
“If you want to,” he said. “I’ll take you and come back for you.”
I had never been to a hairstylist without Kaylee or even shopped for new clothes without Kaylee. I was strangely nervous about it. Of course, I knew everyone at the salon would be catering to me and careful about what they said concerning Kaylee’s disappearance and Mother’s condition. Ordinarily, that would make anyone uncomfortable, I supposed, but getting my hair done, and the way I wanted, not the way Mother wanted so Kaylee and I would look alike? Oh, yes, I wanted to burst out with a big “Thank you” and kiss Daddy. His face lit up. He wanted me to forget about cleaning up the kitchen. He’d do it.
“Just go get yourself ready,” he said. “This is your day, Haylee. You deserve it.”
How wonderful that sounded. Your day, Haylee. Not Your day, Haylee and Kaylee.
I rushed upstairs to thumb through my magazines, deciding what changes I wanted to make with my hair. I ripped out the picture of the hairdo I wanted. Mother had refused to let us cut our hair much, but I wanted to look older and sophisticated. I chose a slicked-back bob for a short hairstyle, which meant I’d have a pound of hair cut off. Good riddance, I thought as I bounced down the stairway to meet Daddy and go.
Dawn Selby, Mother’s hairstylist, was quite surprised when I showed her the picture. She looked at my father, who was preparing to leave. He saw what she wanted and said, “Just do whatever she wants.”
Dawn nodded. It was one of the most silent sessions I’d ever had at the salon. She was very nervous and talked mostly about her own hair, but she did a perfect job. I looked exactly the way I wanted. If and when Mother sees me now, even if she is getting better, she’ll probably have another nervous breakdown, I thought.
Daddy liked it. He said exactly what I wanted to hear any man say: “You’ve got the face for it, Haylee. It complements your beauty.”
What a surprise I would be to all the others at Amanda’s party. At least now they could freely talk about other things without thinking about Kaylee. On the way home from the salon, I was tempted to ask Daddy to buy me something new to wear. He saw me gazing at a display of clothes in the department-store window we were passing.
“What about something new to wear?” he said, slowing down. I guessed I was pretty obvious about it. It would be the first thing I had ever owned without Kaylee owning it as well.
“Really? That would be so sweet, Daddy.”
“Let’s go for it,” he said, and turned into the parking garage.
I knew exactly what dress I wanted, something Mother would never approve. I had longed to have it and went right to it. It was a body-hugging lavender dress with a scoop neckline, sleeveless with mesh cutout sides, short with a curve-hugging, tight fit. Daddy looked quite shocked when I stepped out of the dressing room.
“Is that legal?” he asked, smiling.
“All the girls have dresses like this, Daddy,” I said, even though I was probably going to be one of less than a handful in my school who’d wear something like this to a party.
“Are you sure?”
“I’ve always loved it. It’s so comfortable.”
“I bet. It’s like another layer of skin. Okay,” he said. “But I feel sorry for Ryan. He’ll spend most of his time fighting off the competition.”
On the way out, we stopped at the shoe department and bought me a pair of matching open-toed shoes with a two-inch heel. The moment I got home, I started on my makeup and then
got dressed almost an hour earlier than I had to, just so I could be sure I had done everything I wanted. Both Eddie and Luke started a Skype call with me, and I decided to let them see me first.
They both whistled and whooped. I teased them for a while and then checked myself out one more time. One thing was for sure, I thought, I looked nothing like Kaylee now.
When I finally came downstairs, Daddy looked like he had lost his ability not only to speak but to make a sound. I turned around for him and struck a pose like someone taking a selfie.