26. “Sister Golden Hair”

26

"SISTER GOLDEN HAIR"

AMERICA

B efore I knew it, Saturday morning had arrived. I had assumed the time would drag on, but between doing research for the retreat, working on the story for Caleb, and my actual job, the time sped by as if Kari was already there.

My Jeep had been delivered the day before with a shiny new windshield, and at noon on the dot, I loaded Roxy into the back, and we took off for the airport. Thirty minutes later, I pulled up in front of arrivals, and as luck would have it, I saw Kari standing there next to her matching luggage and carry-on, dressed in her signature yoga attire with a light hoodie.

I waved as I pulled up to the curb, the goofy grin on my face mirroring the one on hers. Roxy looked out the side window in the back and barked, then tried to climb over the seat.

"Stay, Rox. I know. I get it. She's finally here!" I opened my door, jumped out of the Jeep, and ran around to the sidewalk, pulling my friend into a bear hug. "I've missed you so much. Where have you been?"

"I know, right?" she replied, squeezing me so tight I thought my ribs would shatter. "I've missed you more! "

"Okay," I said, pulling back to get a look at her. It had been nearly two months since I'd last seen her. "Let's not waste time standing around at the airport. I'll get your bag into the back seat. Go ahead and throw your carry-on back there, and we'll take off. Are you hungry?"

"It's been a long morning. I'd rather just get back to the house and figure out food from there," she replied as she climbed into the passenger seat with ease.

"Perfectly fine with me. I've got all kinds of stuff to make sandwiches. Do you mind if we stop by Dash of Flair to see Uncle Mike and Chris? Be prepared, however. They're both quite insistent that Nick needs a fashion makeover."

"They're not wrong. Let's go! "

Kari took off her hoodie, buckled her belt, the latch clicking in unison with mine, and we were off.

We had the windows rolled up to keep the air conditioning in, but as we got closer to the water, Kari asked, "Do you mind if we roll the windows down? I know it's hot and muggy, but I really want to smell the beach as we drive by it."

"Absolutely. I love driving around here with the windows down, but I didn't want to shock you with the humidity."

"It's nothing I'm not used to, and at least here, there's a bit of a breeze."

We drove the rest of the way with the wind in our hair. She caught me up on the boys' first month at college, the progress at her house, and the project that Nick was working on. I caught her up on the progress with the retreat and the story I was developing with Caleb's help.

"Can I read your short story at some point this week?" she asked.

"I want you to. Maybe you have some ideas for some other adventures or fun things I can add."

"If I add something good, will you put me in the acknowledgments?"

"You already know I will. Your name will be first. I might even name a character after you if you're good."

"Aw, darn, that would have been nice." She winked at me, a devilish grin on her face.

"Uh oh. Do I sense a week of Girls Gone Wild ahead of us?"

"Only time will tell…" She brushed invisible lint from her yoga pants and looked back at me. "Maybe it's time for this girl to go a little wild."

"Well, alright then!" I knew from experience that Kari's version of "a little wild" was one too many espresso martinis with dinner, but I thought it best to humor her. She was on vacation, after all. Finally.

Before heading back to the house, I drove Kari over to Dash of Flair to see Uncle Mike and meet Chris. They were ready for her.

After tucking Roxy into their office with a bone they'd picked up from the butcher that morning, Chris gestured to a mound of dress shirts in a riot of colors and patterns poured across a fifteen-foot-long rough-hewn cherrywood table. "It's been quiet this morning, so I pulled together a few options for you to send home to your paisley prince. Write down his sizes, and I'll pull the ones you like from the back." He slid a leather-bound spiral notebook and black Mont Blanc from his pocket and set them on the table in front of Kari. She neither saw nor heard him, her attention stolen by the sheer opulence of her surroundings.

Uncle Mike looked up from the pyramid of ties he'd been curating for Nick's unsolicited wardrobe makeover. "C'mon, Kari. You should know better than to expect anything less than jaw-dropping when I'm on the case. I'm being humble when I say, this might be my favorite interior design project. It didn't hurt that Chris gave me full control of the design and the checkbook." He looked over at his partner just in time to see the look of pride Chris was trying in vain to mask with a half-assed scowl.

"Yeah, well, hindsight's twenty-twenty, isn't it?"

"I can always run out to your storage unit and bring back those aluminum racks you had in here previously." Uncle Mike picked up a pair of meticulously folded socks with his free hand and threw them at his partner. "Your choice."

"No, no. The money's already spent."

"...and?"

"You already know it looks great in here. You're just fishing for a compliment."

The smile in Chris' eyes as he purposely goaded my uncle was reminiscent of my dad's when he was poking my mom's last nerve for sport. It made my insides mush to realize someone I loved with my whole heart was so cherished, and in turn, was so completely and utterly enamored. Being around all their sarcasm-soaked happiness was like baking soda and vinegar to my salt-corroded, copper heart.

Kari, who had completed a full, deliberate circle to take it all in, put her hands on either side of the notebook and leaned forward to catch my uncle's attention. "This place is fantastic!"

Uncle Mike broke character and looked down at the ties over his arm, and a blush crawled slowly up from the collar of his shirt. "Thanks, Kari. That means a lot." His gaze returned to her, and the lip he'd been biting in humility gave way to a smile dripping with pride. "What's your favorite feature?"

Kari repeated her spin, stopping a quarter of the way around facing the back of the store. "I don't know if it's the navy blue velvet and gold foil wallpaper or… the Armani-clad statue of David lounging on the fainting couch in front of the fitting rooms or…" She continued her spin until she was facing a wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling shelving grid crafted from the same cherrywood of the table that stretched the length of t he store. "... the vintage top hats and classic hardcover books you have displayed in between each stack of apparel. Or… " another quarter turn "your window display. Is that Madam and Christopher Sly?"

"Good eye," Chris said. "We went to opening night of The Taming of the Shrew at Ruth Eckerd Hall in July, and Mike came straight here after the curtain closed. I barely saw him the rest of the weekend."

"Well it's a show stopper. No pun intended. Is it getting you some foot traffic?"

Uncle Mike, having apparently completed his quest for the perfect tie, slid his selections off his arm and onto the table next to the shirts. "A ton. We've been dressing the show's attendees for weeks now. We've also been able to send some business over to the ladies' boutique next door."

I knew how much supporting local commerce meant to my uncle, and while his face remained passive, his tone was a truer reflection of his pride.

"Uncle Mike! This is huge!"

Kari groaned and muttered under her breath, "Please don't say it. Please don't say it."

"Go on, Paige. You teed it up for yourself, you might as well swing." My uncle chuckled, shaking his head.

"Well, it actually is what she said this time. So…"

"On that note, let's get your poor fashion-challenged husband back on track." Chris held up the first shirt on the pile. "Blue with white windowpane or white with blue pinstripes?"

We spent the next hour giving Kari's American Express a workout, but in the end, the general consensus was that Nick's new wardrobe would boost his confidence, resulting in successful sales meetings, and thus… the clothes practically paid for themselves. Anyway, that's how Chris sold it while Kari signed her name to the lengthy credit card receipt .

Once the clothes were all wrapped and boxed up to be shipped to Madison, Uncle Mike and Chris walked us out to the Jeep, doling out kisses and hugs and promises to come by for dinner before Kari returned home. Fifteen minutes later, we were pulling into the driveway. Roxy spun in circles in the back, and her long blonde hairs escaped from their captor in droves and floated toward the front of the Jeep.

I felt one land in my eyelashes and used the rearview mirror to extract it. "She must have spotted a lizard she needs to chase," I said before hopping down onto the driveway.

"Have you found any in the house?"

"Not yet," I replied, dragging her bulging suitcase out of the backseat. "I don't think you can ever be prepared for something like that, but I know it's going to happen. I'm going to wake up with a lizard running across my face one of these days."

Kari shuddered, then grabbed her carry-on while I let the spinning mass of yellow fur out of the back. Before I could even get the door all the way open, she was off like a lightning bolt in a summer storm.

"There she goes. Go get him, Roxy! Tell that lizard not to dare come into our house."

"At least this week," I heard Kari mutter under her breath.

"Ok. Who's ready to get our suits on and go for a swim?"

"The pool is gorgeous. How do you get anything done with all this right outside your back door?"

"I do spend quite a bit of time floating around thinking about my work projects. It helps boost my creativity. I consider that time ‘professional development'," I said, using air quotes.

"Good plan." Kari shifted her carry-on to her other hand as we reached the back door.

"I did find a couple yoga studios around here. I'm sure you're going to want to visit at least one of them over the next week. Maybe you could try out a few while I'm working, and let me know which one you like best. I haven't practiced once since I've been here."

"Oh, thank you so much. I was worried about going a week without moving my body. I hope you're still planning on joining me for a class."

"Of course. Now, let's heave this massive bag upstairs and get suited up. I have our floaties all ready for us."