Page 26 of The Wedding

Jamie had to believe her. That belief was the only thing that would get her through the next few days until a doctor’s test could seal her fate.

Chapter 10

Not even Etta’s reputation and money could get them a Monday appointment. That worked out for Etta, who had important work to do that day anyway, but for Jamie, it meant more days of torture.

Instead, the earliest she could get in was Wednesday afternoon.

For Jamie, all of this meant her life might change in ways she had never anticipated, let alone while still in her twenties. She maneuvered through uncharted waters like an old explorer on a sinking ship. The more she secretly looked things up, the more convinced she was that somehow, her genetics had launched an attack against her whole body. Herlife.And the fact that it was making her confront things she never knew about herself – like how she might want to be a mother one day – only made things more heartbreaking.

But for Etta, it meant something had gone wrong: like someone, somewhere had cursed them for their happiness. The stress was so intense that Jamie didn’t tell anyone else. And while Jamie didn’t bring it up much, she overheard Etta on the phone with doctors who knew what to expect with a cancer diagnosis.This is it. This is what tests us like nothing else.

On Monday, Jamie had a hair appointment downtown. Normally, shewould drive herself, but her nerves were so delicate that she called their driver and asked him to drive her in the Town Car.

“Jamie!” cried Raul, the man she had entrusted with her hair for over a year. He and his husband Tim ran the exclusive salon. With only the two of them cutting, dyeing, and styling hair, Jamie needed her girlfriend’s name – and money – to not only score an appointment but afford it as well. They were well worth the money, however. Since Raul took over as her stylist, people constantly commented on Jamie’s wavy black hair that bounced with every step and was as soft as the most sought-after silk. “So good to see you! You don’t come by often enough.”

Once a month isn’t often enough?Jamie knew of rich women who went every two weeks if not every week, but they had more upkeep they didn’t want to deal with on their own. The most Jamie got were professional washes, trims, and the occasional curl if something special was coming up, like Monique’s wedding. This was her first time returning since then.

“It’s good to see you too.” Jamie stepped into Raul’s chair. His workstation was cordoned off by a rice paper partition hand-decorated with cherry trees and Japanesekanjicharacters. Jamie didn’t read Japanese – or Chinese, for that matter – so she imagined it saying something like,“And then Tom said unto Gladys: ‘Look at those freakin’ trees. They are pink.’”

This partition meant she couldn’t see Tim’s workstation on the other side of the room. She could hear him, however, as he greeted a woman who walked in right after Jamie.

“Kathleen!” Both men spoke fluent hairdresser, intonation and all. “Was starting to wonder if you were caught up in that awful traffic on the other side of town.”

“Isn’t it awful?” she replied, heavy heels clacking against the floor. “I took a cab like I usually do, but we were hung up between Harris and 3rd for a good twenty minutes.”

“Well, you’re here now.” Tim continued to talk while Raul fished outhis cape and swung it around Jamie’s chest. She glanced in the mirror and saw a head of blond just outside the partition. Tim walked back and forth, picking up his supplies and staring at Kathleen in the mirror, his hand sometimes fluffing the strands on top of her head. “What is going on here?”

“I know! It’s a fucking mess. I swear I am losing hair.”

“Oh, honey…” Tim plucked a comb off the shelf and parted the hair on Kathleen’s scalp this way and that. “I’m sure it’s not that bad. Maybe some stress. Genetics? Let’s hope not. You don’t seem to have folliculitis. If you did, I’d be screaming.”

Raul silently parted Jamie’s hair as well, but he wasn’t looking for infected follicles. Instead, he picked her hair with a comb, making sure it was nice and ready for any work he did shortly afterward. Jamie ignored the prickling pain on her scalp and eavesdropped. It was better than obsessing over what was going on in her body.

“It’s probably my partner,” Kathleen said, following it up with a snort. “They’re making all my hair fall out. Probably making it turn gray, too.”

“Trouble in paradise?”

“Hardly. Just… this morning they sent me a text out of the blue saying I was being disagreeable and a pain in his ass. Out of the blue!”

“Whaaaat?”

“Turns out she meant that for someone else. Or so she swore in another text following it up five seconds later. Until then, I was ready to go to their condo and throttle her. I would showherdisagreeable.”

“That kind of stuff ends relationships. The text, I mean.”

“You’re telling me.” Kathleen sighed. “No, if anything is stressing me out enough to make my hair fall out, it’s definitely the charity I’m trying to start up.”

“What charity is this? You’re always doing something or other.”

“No, I help out other charities. This time I’m trying to start one. Do you know what a legalfuckall it is?”

“I can bet. What are we raising money for?”

Raul told Jamie it would be a second before the wash station was ready.

“I’m trying to launch a new pet shelter. Not just any kind, either. The idea is that it’s not only no-kill, but it’s out in the country, with lots of acres for running around. Give the cats and dogs and whatever else a happy life even if they’re not adopted.”

“That’s pretty sweet.”