The Heart That's Meant to Love You

Chapter 47: Spa

Naomi couldn't believe she let Claire drag her to the spa, especially without telling her mother, but she couldn't say that she regretted it. Not when a talented Thai masseuse had her fingers dug into a long-standing knot in Naomi's left shoulder. Her mother would call it indulgence. Naomi didn't care. She had never felt so loose and relaxed.

Thankfully, Claire kept her mouth shut until after the massage, or Naomi wouldn't have had such a good time.

They were sitting in a green room, waiting for their hair and makeup appointments, when Claire next addressed Naomi. The thing was, when Claire broke her silence, it always came with a punch that Naomi could never expect. This time, the punch came as a question.

"So what did the interim prof do that made you malfunction?"

Naomi choked on a sip of her tropical fruit juice.

In truth, Naomi should have expected it. She already knew that Claire lacked tact or a filter when it came to her words. Claire had never been predictable, but in that lied the source of her predictability.

Still, Naomi failed to see the line of questioning that Claire took.

Naomi cleared her throat, hoping against hope that she could circle around the topic instead of facing it. "Why would you assume that Kieran did anything?"

"Kieran, is it?" Claire sipped her own fruit cocktail. "I didn't realize that the two of you were on a first-name basis. When did that happen?"

Naomi winced. She should have known better than to refer to him by his first name. Not only had she failed in circumventing Claire's interrogation, but she had made it worse.

"We've known each other for a while now. It would be weird if we didn't know each other's first names."

"Knowing and using are two entirely different things." Claire sent a smirk sailing in Naomi's direction. "So what did he do to make you malfunction?"

"What makes you think that he made me malfunction?"

"Oh, so that's how you're going to play it." Claire leaned back in her seat, lifting her straw to her lips again. "So, did he kiss you?"

"No!" Once more, Naomi found herself overreacting and falling right into Claire's trap.

Claire set her drink aside, suddenly much more interested in their conversation. "He made you malfunction like that and he didn't even kiss you? Sweetie, take a chance on him. Not every couple has that kind of chemistry."

"We aren't a couple," Naomi denied. Because they weren't. The things that existed between them, they had never spoken of. If they voiced them, wouldn't they have to do something about them?

"Even if you aren't, you should be." Claire tapped Naomi's forehead with one finger. "I told you, you need to take some risks."

"You think I should take the risk on Kieran?" If so, Naomi should steer far away from him.

"Well, Oliver certainly doesn't make you react like this, does he?"

Naomi wanted to ask why Claire brought Oliver up in this context, why anyone assumed that she and Oliver could be a couple at all. She never had the chance.

A perky blonde assistant, dressed in the spa's staff uniform, stepped into the room with a smile. "Ms. Danvers? Ms. Rowe?"

Claire rose to her feet, straightening the fluffy white robe around her shoulders. "That's us."

"Please follow me." The blonde woman motioned a hand toward the door she had appeared through.

Her interruption couldn't have come at a better time. Naomi didn't want to explain all that had happened between her and Kieran. Nor did she want to discuss the burgeoning Oliver problem. One day, she would have to speak up about it, but for now it seemed easier to avoid the subject altogether.

Take a risk, Claire had said, but she didn't understand how calculated and meticulous every moment of Naomi's life had been up to now. Naomi didn't know how to take a risk.

Claire, clearly oblivious to Naomi's inner turmoil, trailed the blonde staffer into the hair-and-makeup salon. Naomi brought up the rear, only partially interested in the goings-on around her. She had been to a hair salon many times, always with the same instructions for the hairdresser her mother had long ago approved.

Therefore, settling into a new hairdresser's chair seemed more dreamlike than real to Naomi. Claire flopped into the chair at the next station over, her attention swinging to Naomi as she grinned.

Naomi could hear the words without Claire speaking them. Since their first meeting, Claire had been begging Naomi to embrace adventure.

"Hey, there," greeted a southern-accented hairdresser who came up behind Naomi. "I'm Ava and I'll be taking care of you today." Long fingers combed through Naomi's hair, testing the thickness, strength, and levity of the strands. "What are we gonna do with this hair today, hon?"

Claire had always wanted Naomi to go on an adventure. To stand up for what she wanted instead of what those around her demanded. Maybe Naomi couldn't do that when it came to her choice of relationship. But it didn't seem too far a stretch to do whatever she wanted with her own hair.

"Take a risk." Claire's words floated through Naomi's head like gnats, flitting and biting in a way so annoying that Naomi couldn't overlook them.

"Let's do something you think would look good," Naomi decided. "All I ask is that you don't cut it too short."

Ava grinned, her fingers scrunching in Naomi's hair like she had just given her the world at her fingertips. "You're gonna look fabulous, hon. Just you wait."

Naomi spared a glance toward Claire to see her friend grinning to herself. No doubt Claire knew the courage it had taken Naomi to change the one little part of her routine. It could be a start or an ending, depending on how one looked at it.

However, as Naomi patiently allowed Ava to slice and shear, she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that it would be a beginning. If she could take charge of this one little thing, it could serve as a stepping stone toward reclaiming her own life. Each tuft of hair that flitted toward the floor spoke of courage regained and hope rekindled. Piece by piece, Naomi found herself taking the first step forward to the life she wanted.