The Wind and the Horizon (Book 2 in the Starborn Series)

Chapter Fifty-Eight

It took a bit of time for the tension between May and Mila to dissipate.

May didn't argue this time when Mila insisted she make herself comfortable while she cleaned up from dinner. From her place on the living room couch, May took deep, calming breaths until her fiery anger subsided into a mild smoulder. It was just one night, she reasoned. By morning she'd be gone and she would never have to see Mila again.

Eventually Mila crept into the living room, a glass of fresh-pressed mango juice in one hand and a full glass of wine in the other. She offered the juice to May with a sheepish smile and eased down onto the opposite end of the couch.

"So," Mila ventured. "How's the family? What have I missed while I've been hiding out like the shitty person that I am."

May rolled her eyes. Mila's self-deprecation wasn't going to get her very far with her.

"Everyone's fine. Omi started school and Ora's pregnant again."

"Really?" This news brightened Mila's mood right away. "She must be so excited! When is she due?"

The fact that Mila had been Ora's friend before she and May fell into one another made her safe mutual ground. May shared her suspicion that baby number two would be a girl, which made Mila coo in hopeful agreement. The conversation shifted to Omi - about how much he had grown and about what an adventurous and jubilant boy he had become - and soon May felt herself relax. That child would forever be her weakness.

Before long, the conversation was flowing naturally. They kept their focus on the past, digging up old memories from their days as high schoolers and dancers, skirting artfully around any subject matter that might disrupt their fragile truce.

"Listen," Mila said, waving her near-empty glass between them. "Before I have anymore to drink how about I help you with your hair?"

May blinked at her. "What about my hair?"

"You have this one shaved line on the side," Mila pointed to May's scalp. "I'm guessing you had stitches from your accident?"

Trailing her fingertips across the soft fuzz around the fresh scar on her head, May considered what she must look like. After the attack, vanity had been the furthest thing from her mind. Only now that she was on the mend did she realize how strange she probably looked. She nodded slightly.

"Nurses never seem too concerned about the fact that you have to live with that hair after they shave it, do they?" Mila spoke from experience. May could still vividly remember the summer Mila split her head open by falling off the handlebars of May's bike. They had never done that again.

"I don't think there's much you can do about it."

"Sure there is," Mila chirped, sitting up straight. "I could even it out. It would be drastic but really cool. A badass new look for the badass new you!"

May wasn't quite convinced. Cutting all her hair short all those years ago had been dramatic enough, and even that had been the result of a full-blown panic attack.

"Come on," Mila urged as she got to her feet. "It'll be a big change but it won't be worse than what you've got now, right? Besides, hair grows out. You'll be fine."

Still not completely sold, May followed Mila to the ensuite bathroom and sat timidly on the chair Mila dragged over from her vanity. Gently, Mila combed her fingers through May's already voluminous hair and fanned it out across her shoulders.

"What I'm thinking is we shave this entire side and make it even," Mila explained, outlining the scarred side of May's head from her part to her ear and back. May's eyes bulged.