Free Chemistry of Desire by Melanie Schuster Page A

couple of fairy godmothers, and you’ll be fine.”
    Before Emily could demand to know what she meant, the doorbell rang. “And here’s our other godmother, right on schedule. Can you see what Sydney is doing and help her set the table while I answer the door? Thanks, Em,” she said breezily as she left the kitchen.
    Emily was too bemused to do anything but follow Sherri’s orders. She went in search of Sydney, who had changed out of her school uniform and into play clothes. She was standing on a little stool washing her hands, like the obedient child she was. “C’mon, chick, we’re going to set the table.”
    As they came down the hall they heard Alexis’s voice, and Sydney ran to greet her while Emily took a deep breath. She had a feeling she was goingto be talked into something she wasn’t going to like. When she saw the gloating smiles on her friends’ faces, she gave a deep sigh and prepared to face the inevitable. They most assuredly had big plans for her, and she might as well save herself from long hours of argument and get with the program.

Chapter 10
    E mily’s prediction proved to be absolutely correct. She didn’t understand quite how they did it, but Alexis and Sherri had convinced her that she was overdue for a new look. They were kind enough not to use the word “makeover,” but that’s what it amounted to. That’s why she was sitting in Alexis’s styling chair on a Sunday. They had gone to the early service at church, and Sydney was spending the afternoon with her grandmother. Emily had so much hair that Alexis wanted to do her on a day when she didn’t have any other clients. She was glad about that, because she would have chickened out if a lot of people were in the salon.Now, since it was just her and Sherri and Alexis, she didn’t mind sitting in the styling chair with a cape tied around her neck.
    She’d never been in the salon for longer than a few minutes, and she was most impressed. It was a clean, uncluttered place with a robin’s egg blue and chocolate-brown color scheme that was soothing and chic. There were a lot of stations for other stylists, as well as a section for manicures and pedicures and other beauty services that Emily had never had. She hadn’t even heard of most of them. Alexis told her to take the elastic off her hair and Emily did so, then she laughed at Alexis’s reaction.
    “Girl, this is a whole lotta hair,” Alexis said. “You’ve got enough for three people.”
    “Yeah, I do. I’ve never had it cut, except for when you used to trim the ends every so often. And as you know, I’ve never had a perm or had it pressed or anything. All I ever did was wash it and braid it up to get it out of the way,” Emily admitted. In a burst of frankness, she said, “It just seemed kind of pointless. I was never going to look as good as my sisters, so why bother. Ouch!” She turned around to stare at Alexis. “You pulled my hair!”
    “Yes I did,” Alexis said without a hint of remorse. “This is Emily time. This is when you look forward with positivity and joy. We are notspending any time looking back with negativity and anger, you got that?”
    Emily nodded and smiled. It was so good to have girlfriends who were completely and totally on her side. Every woman needed some friends who “had her back,” as Alexis and Sherri did hers. “Yes, Earth Mother, I got it.”
    “All right, then, let’s get to work. Namaste. ” Alexis loved having the last word. “And by the way, you’re still not getting a perm. Permanent waves make the hair curlier. Relaxers are what make the hair straighter. I wish people wouldn’t use those terms interchangeably,” she grumbled as she combed through Emily’s hair.
    “I’m putting myself totally in your hands, Alexis. You can dye it, fry it, snip it or clip it, whatever you want. I do have one question. Can my hair be donated to Locks of Love?”
    Alexis gave her a big smile. “Yes, it most certainly can. I’m not going