Page 159 of Unexpected Shot
A chorus of “wows,” accompanied by wide eyes, goes through every single person in attendance. Because…yeah. I don’t know exactly how I’d describe this new hairstyle of hers, but it’s…uneven. And choppy. And, I mean, she’s four and gave herself bangs. Who am I kidding? She looks like a mini horse got a hair cut with a weedwacker.
“Adalyn…you look….”
“She looks like something, doesn’t she?” Asher grits out.
“I look like something beautiful!” Adalyn exclaims. “Do you like it, Miss Shelby?”
“Do I like it?” Shelby asks back. Shelby, who has the worst poker face in the world. “Of course!”
I can’t help but smile as I watch my wife pick up Adalyn and twirl her around, big grins on both of their faces.
“I can do it to you too, Miss Shelby!”
“Well wouldn’t that be something,” Shelby says, trying to keep up the fake excitement in her voice. “How about I take the girl with the beautiful new haircut to get some treats?”
“Treat!” Adalyn squeals, and Shelby gives us awhat the fucklook before taking Asher’s daughter out of earshot.
“Before anyone says anything, they were children’s scissors,” he says. “And I turned my back for a minute. Two tops. I was loading the goddamn dishwasher.”
We all start chuckling, but of course, it’s because it’s not our kid.
“Fine. Laugh it up. Just wait till your kids do something stupid.”
“It’s only kind of funny,” Gabi says. “Kids do it all the time. It’s normal. Are you going to take her to get it fixed by a professional?”
“Yeah. Tomorrow,” Asher groans. “I’ll take her to the quick hair cut place down the street from our house.”
“Absolutely not,” Gabi says, sprinting behind the counter and writing something down. “This is my hair place. I would trust every single one of these women with my life. You need someone who knows what they’re doing. So you’re going to go in there, tell them I sent you, and ask for the Bang Queen.”
“The Bang Queen?” Asher repeats, which I’m glad he did. Because did my sister say Bang Queen?
“Yes, they’ll know who you mean.”
Asher shakes his head, trying to give the piece of paper back to her. “Gabi, I can’t say the words ‘Bang Queen.’”
She rolls her eyes at Asher as we’re all, rightfully, snickering at this interaction. “You can, and you will.”
Gabi shoots her eyes over to me, Maddox, and Theo, who are all giggling like ten-year-old boys at the excessive use of the words “Bang Queen.”
“What’s so funny?” Gabi demands, hands on hips like she means business.
“Nothing,” Theo says, though him holding in his laughter isn’t going the way he wants.
“Y’all are ridiculous,” Gabi says with an eye roll, making us laugh even harder as Asher lets out a sigh I can tell has been a long time coming.
“Just when I think I’ve got this dad thing down, she does something like this,” he says, looking over to Shelby and Adalyn, who’s now showing off her new hairstyle to Kitty and Phyllis. “Chalk it up to one more reason why I’m a terrible father.”
“You are not a terrible father,” Maddox says, patting him on the back. “Gabi’s right. Kids do stupid shit. You’re going to goget her hair fixed tomorrow, and one day you’ll laugh about all this.”
“God I hope,” he says. “It’s days like these when I wonder if Hailey would know what to do. Because I’m pretty sure freaking out and making my daughter cry wasn’t the move.”
Shit, now I feel bad for laughing. This guy. He’s one of the good ones. Great ones, even. Steady. Loves his kid. One of the best friends a guy could ask for. Not to mention a hell of a cookie maker and hockey player.
But man…life hasn’t dealt him a fair deck. Married to his high school sweetheart, but it took them years to get pregnant. Then, they finally do, and Hailey dies when their daughter is still a baby. Life isn’t fair sometimes.
“You’re doing your best. And that’s what counts,” I remind him. “If it helps, at least it’s only her bangs. Could’ve been her whole head.”
“Exactly,” Theo agrees. “Hair grows back. Now, when she goes out and gets her first tattoo with Uncle Theo? That’ll be a different story.”
