“Ughh, fine,” she groans. “You can all soak it in and get all the pictures you want because this is never happening again.”
•••
Twenty minutes later the three of us are walking up to my house.
“What do you think your mom is going to say?” Heaven asks.
“We’ll find out,” I say. It finally hits me that my mom might flip out. She doesn’t get angry a lot, but my hair is a big part of her overall vision. I stop and turn toward Dr.G. “If she disowns me, can I come live with you?”
“She’s not going to disown you.” Dr.G laughs. “But if things go south, we have a guest room that’s all yours.”
“Thanks for being such a supportive dentist.”
“Come on.”
We don’t even make it up the front steps before the door flies open. I texted Mom to let her know I was coming inside with company, but I’m sure the porch cam ratted us out.
“Oh my gosh! Look at you two! Hi, Maurene! Come in.” My mom ushers us into the kitchen, and from the way she’s bouncing around all giddy, I think Dr.G is right—I won’t be disowned today. Heaven and I give her a quick walk through our looks, and Mom is just eating it up.
“They told me they did not clear the drastic hair color change with you,” Dr.G says.
“They did not, but I love it. You both look amazing.”
We take a few dozen pictures in my backyard, and finally I force Mom to stop ’cause I can tell Heaven is ready to end it all. We walk Heaven and Dr.G back outside and say our goodbyes, and I hate that I can’t kiss Heaven or give her a real bone-melting hug. But I feel a lot better when she tells me she’ll text me later.
“I need your help washing this gel out. I’m digging the clothes, but my head is killing me,” I tell Mom when we walk back into the house.
She touches my edges. “It does look really tight.”
“Heaven is stronger than a marine.”
“What color is this?” Mom suddenly asks in a tone that has all my alarms going off.
I take a step back. “Why?”
“Because I wanna tell Sherri.” Sherri. Her hairdresser.
“Mom! No!”
“What?”
“We are not walking around with the same color hair.”
“Fine. But I still think it’ll look good on me.”
“Can you help me with my hair? Daddy can look at the picture if he wants the full vibe.”
“Yes. Head on up. I’m right behind you.”
“Thank you.”
“Oh, I forgot to tell Heaven, I posted the pictures of your cast. People are loving it.”
“I’ll check it out.” When I get up to my room, I pull up Mom’s Instagram account. The pictures of my cast are up there for sure, and Heaven’s tagged in the first slide.
Say’s brilliant friend jazzed up her cast!
Look at these adorable ghosts. #loveintheafterlife