get this over with. I walk over to the door and unlock it, turning the handle and opening it slowly. I glance around the door frame into an empty hallway, thankful that Brady and Gwen aren’t standing inches from the closed door and staring at it, waiting for it to open.
I make my way down the hallway and notice several framed photos hanging on the wall of Gwen and her daughter Emma, Gwen and Brady, Brady and Emma, and a few of all three of them together. There’s one last photo next to all the others of Brady and three other men in their Navy Dress Whites, and I know immediately that these are the men he talked about on our run, the friends he spoke so highly of and admires. I smile to myself despite how I’m feeling, realizing that Brady’s home is nothing like a college fraternity house.
I step into the living room and find Gwen seated on the edge of the coffee table and Brady pacing back and forth behind the couch with his hands clasped behind his head.
They both look up when I enter the room, and their jaws drop when I step out of the dark hallway and into the brightly lit room.
“Oh wow,” Gwen whispers, a smile slowly turning up the corners of her mouth until she’s full-on grinning at me.
“Holy shit,” Brady mutters as he stops pacing and his hands drop down to his sides.
I reach one of my hands up to tug self-consciously at the blunt ends of my hair that now rest an inch above my shoulders instead of eight inches past them.
“You look amazing!” Gwen says, standing up quickly from the coffee table and rushing over to stand in front of me. “I’m Gwen, by the way, and I love your music! I’m a huge fan!”
Her gushing and the genuine smile on her face as she stares at my hack job makes me feel a little better about what I’ve done. I eye the blue and purple streaks in her dark hair, and I immediately wish I had the guts to do something that drastic. I guess this will have to do for now.
“Thank you,” I tell her with a smile. “I’m sorry for taking over your bathroom for so long. And I promise I’ll clean up the hair all over the place.”
Gwen reaches out and rubs my arm gently.
“Nonsense. Brady is the neat freak, so he can worry about it while you and I watch some mindless reality TV before my whirlwind of a daughter gets home from school,” Gwen says with a laugh.
At the mention of Brady, my eyes leave hers and wander over to him as he stands perfectly still behind the couch staring at me. Gwen follows my gaze and I see her give her brother a dirty look and not so subtly nod her head in my direction.
“Don’t you have anything to say to her?” Gwen says through her smile and clenched teeth.
After a few awkward seconds, he finally speaks.
“What is it about my bathroom that causes both of the women in my life to lock themselves in there at separate times and chop it all off?” Brady says with a shake of his head, throwing his hands up in the air in puzzlement.
I look back at Gwen and we both stare at each other’s hair before we burst out laughing. We’re laughing so hard that tears are falling from both of our eyes and Gwen clutches her stomach. At the tail end of our laughing fit, Brady walks up next to me, runs both of his hands down the side of my head, and holds them in place on either side of my face. He stares into my eyes for a few minutes with a soft smile on his face before leaning in and kissing my cheek.
“I thought it was impossible for you to be any more beautiful than you already were,” he whispers in my ear while Gwen gives us some privacy and turns on the television.
“Jesus, was I fucking wrong.”
I can hear the desire in his voice, and it makes my stomach flip with excitement. This day started out amazing and quickly turned horrifying. I breathe a sigh of relief because it looks like it might end on a more positive note.
I snatch up my ringing cell phone and smile when I see who’s calling, despite all of