“No.”
“Excuse me?”
“Tomorrow matters to her.”
I laughed once, bitterly.
“This is ridiculous.”
Nadine looked directly at me.
“Then humor me. Be there at six.”
“I have a deadline.”
“Marla.”
Something in her voice made me stop.
“Be there this time.”
This time.
Two words.
And somehow they found every place in me I had been avoiding for years.
I thought of the winter concert I had watched through Nadine’s phone because I’d arrived after the last song.
The science fair where I showed up while teachers were folding tables.
The parent breakfast Eric attended alone because I had a meeting.
I hated that she was right enough to hurt me.
“Don’t make this about my job.”
“I’m not.”
“You are.”
“I’m making it about tomorrow night.”
I turned toward my car.
Behind me, Nadine said, “When you understand why she cut it, you’re going to wish you had been paying closer attention.”
I spun around.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
But she had already opened her door.
“Six o’clock, Marla.”
The next afternoon, I came home earlier than usual.
Tessa and Nadine were already leaving for school.
Tessa had replaced the sweatshirt with a knitted beanie pulled low over her ears.
I nearly called after her.
Then I noticed her backpack sitting beside the stairs.
“Tessa forgot her bag,” I muttered.
I picked it up, meaning to drive it over.
The zipper wasn’t completely closed, and when I lifted it, several notebooks shifted.
Something crumpled fell onto the floor.
A piece of lined paper.
I should have left it alone.
I know that now.
But after everything that had happened, I opened it.
There were only a few words written across the page.
Next time, I’ll make sure there’s nothing left to cut.
My hands went numb.
I read it again.
Then again.
Suddenly the haircut didn’t look like a choice anymore.
Had someone threatened Tessa?
Had something happened at school that she was too frightened to tell me?
Was that why she had cut her hair?
I grabbed my phone.
Before I could call Nadine, it rang.
My boss, Caroline.
“Marla, thank God. Jen went home sick, and we’re buried. I need you back here for a couple of hours.”
Normally, my answer would have been automatic.
