Free The Curl Up and Dye by Sharon Sala

around seven if you can make it.”
    “That sounds wonderful.”
    Lily wrote down her cell number. “Here’s my number. Call me if you need anything… anything at all. I still work at Phillips’ Pharmacy.”
    Carol laughed. “Blessings is an amazing place. It’s very comforting to know things never change here.”
    Lily felt like crying. She had to get out before she came undone.
    “I’m leaving now. Mike, you know where I am. Call if you need something.”
    “Now that Mom and Dad are here, I won’t bother you again,” he said.
    She managed to smile as she made a smooth exit and held it together on the way home. But by the time she pulled up in her driveway, tears were running down her face. She got into the house, turning on lights as she went, and made it all the way to her bedroom before she collapsed on the bed, sobbing uncontrollably. Her heart hurt to the point that it was hard to breathe. Mike was on the mend. His parents were here. They were all having Thanksgiving together. She should be happy. So why did she feel like someone had just died?
    ***
    One week later
    “Lily! LilyAnn! How much are these cough drops? I don’t see a price on them anywhere.”
    Lily glanced up from the cash register, at the woman waving to her from an aisle away.
    “It’s on the shelf,” she said, and kept ringing up Willa Dean Miller’s purchases.
    Willa Dean leaned over the counter in a conspiratorial manner.
    “The reason Sue Beamon can’t see the price is because she’s too vain to wear her glasses,” Willa Dean muttered.
    Lily managed a smile, but it was hard to find the joy in even the simplest of things.
    “We all have our vanities,” Lily said.
    Willa Dean frowned. “I guess.”
    “That will be forty-two dollars and fifty cents,” Lily said, as she dropped the last item in the bag.
    Willa Dean ran her credit card through the scanner, signed her name on the screen, and then glanced over her shoulder. Sue Beamon was her next-door neighbor, and she was heading this way. She’d been trying to corner Willa Dean for a solid week, and she wasn’t in the mood to be grilled about anything.
    “Thanks a bunch, LilyAnn,” Willa Dean said. She grabbed the receipt Lily handed her and sailed out of the store before Sue could get to the checkout counter.
    “Well, shoot,” Sue said, as she laid the bag of cough drops on the counter. “I wanted to talk to Willa Dean.”
    “You guys live on the same street,” Lily said.
    Sue shrugged. “I know. But these days she’s always working or gone. And when she leaves on her little shopping trips, she leaves Harold behind. Kinda weird, if you ask me. I think something is up.”
    Lily frowned. “You shouldn’t say that. Someone could get the wrong idea and start a rumor about Willa Dean that wasn’t true.”
    Sue blinked, taken aback by the not-so-subtle scolding.
    “Well, yes, of course you’re right. I was just… uh, how much do I owe you?”
    “It comes to three dollars and seventeen cents.”
    Sue counted out even change, took the receipt and her cough drops, and hustled out of the store.
    Lily sighed. It was Friday, almost noon, and where the heck was Mitchell? Her head hurt. Her neck hurt. She couldn’t wait to get to The Curl Up and Dye for that shampoo and head massage that Ruby gave her.
    And just like that, Mitchell came hurrying in the front door, waving as he went to put up his things. He came back just as quickly. She dropped the register key in his hand.
    “Go, girl. You look like you need a break,” Mitchell said.
    “I need something,” Lily muttered.
    She left the pharmacy with a less than hurried step. When she passed the fitness center, she couldn’t help but look in. Stewart was behind the counter, and she could see his wife in the back. She knew Mike wouldn’t be back to work this soon, but she couldn’t help but look.
    Just thinking about Mike made the ache in her heart worse. Day before yesterday, he’d come home from the hospital, and