Sophie glanced up at Kai. “He’s been up at night a lot, restless and worried,” Sophie explained.
“Can you stand?” Kai asked her.
She was weak, but she got to her feet with Kai’s help. She slipped her arms into the robe and Kai belted it around her waist. “Help me sit on the toilet and you can shave my head.”
Kai held her hand tight while Sophie stepped over the tub. When Sophie was seated, Kai opened the door. “I’ve got her. Can you find the clippers beneath the sink?” Kai asked Roman.
She brushed out Sophie’s hair while Roman searched for the clippers. “These?” He asked holding up the men’s electric hair clippers.
“Yep.”
Roman handed them to Kai and leaned against the sink. She turned them on and the buzzing sound filled the bathroom. Sophie glanced up at Kai.
“Get it over with,” Sophie whispered.
“I can’t.” She handed them to Roman.
They switched places. He squatted down in front of her. “Are you sure you’re ready to do this?” She shook her head no. “Then why don’t you wait?”
“Look in the tub,” she told him getting teary.
He leaned around the shower curtain. A clump of her hair laid on the side of the tub behind the shampoo bottle where Kai had tried to hide it, and more was near the drain.
“That’s just a few big clumps, Sophie,” he stated. “You’ve got a lot of hair.”
She nodded then wiped a tear from her cheek.
“It’s just hair, Sophie. It will grow back.”
Sophie frowned at him. “Easy for you say,” she scolded Roman. Then she ran her fingers through his thick dark hair which fell back in place. “You get to keep your beautiful, perfect, hair.”
Roman rose and grabbed Sophie’s towel. He put it around his shoulders. Then he stepped around his wife who was eyeing him with question in her eyes. He ran the clippers down the middle of his head letting the hair fall onto the counter. Kai and Sophie gasped. He gazed at her for a moment then he said, “It is just hair.”
His wife sat on the tub.
He finished shaving the rest of his hair off then he turned back to Sophie and squatted in front of her. “Okay, now my hair is gone. Ready?”
She had big, tears rolling down her cheeks. “Your hair,” she whispered running her hand over his bald head.
“It’s just hair, Sophie.”
She nodded. Roman got on his knees in front of Sophie and ran the clippers through her hair. She closed her eyes not wanting to watch the locks fall from her head. Kai stepped over his legs and left the bathroom. She couldn’t watch.
“Next pass, Sophie. Ready?” Roman asked.
She nodded.
More hair fell from her head to her lap. She could feel its softness against her fingers as she caught it. “Let me get a towel to put around your shoulders so you don’t get itchy.”
“Okay.”
Roman left her for a moment then she felt him putting the towel around her shoulders. He resumed shaving her head. With a gentleness that was Roman, he swiped the clippers through her hair until her head was bare. He took her hand and had her touch the softness of her head.
“It’s okay now. It will grow back when your chemo is done.”
Roman turned off the clippers. He didn’t move from his knees at Sophie’s feet. She rubbed her hand back and forth across her bare head. Then she opened her eyes and her hand dropped to her lap. She grasped his free hand in hers. She leaned forward, and his forehead touched hers.
“Thank you,” she whispered.