Chapter 1 - THE SOUND BEHIND ME
My mother-in-law cut off my hair while I was dancing with her son.
One second, Nick’s hand was warm against my back.
The next, something yanked my head sideways.
Then came the sound.
Metal closing through hair.
I turned, and Martha stood behind me with my braid hanging from her fist.
White flowers still twisted through it.
For a moment, my mind refused to understand what my eyes were seeing.
Then I touched the back of my neck.
Nothing.
“What did you do?”
My voice cracked so sharply that Nick stopped moving.
Martha lifted the braid like a prize.
“Honey, it’s a family tradition. In our family, the bride’s hair gets cut at the wedding.”
The music kept playing.
That was the part I would remember later.
Some cheerful love song filling the restaurant while my mother-in-law stood in front of me holding something she had taken from my body.
Nick stared at the scissors.
“Mom.”
“Oh, don’t look like that.”
A few guests gave uncertain laughs.
Then they saw my face.
“It’s only hair,” Martha said.
“It’ll grow back.”
Nick and I had been together since high school.
For eleven years, I had loved him through exams, cheap apartments, broken cars, and the death of his father.
For eleven years, Martha had reminded me that her wealthy best friend had a daughter.
A better daughter.
A girl with the right clothes, the right family, the right future.
I had swallowed every comparison.
I had even paid for Martha’s silver dress when she complained she couldn’t afford anything suitable for our wedding.
Now that dress brushed against my severed braid.
Nick reached for the scissors.
“Give those to me.”
Martha pulled back.
“Honestly, you two. It was supposed to be funny.”
“Give them to me.”
She finally did.
Then Nick looked toward the restaurant entrance.
“I need ten minutes.”
I caught his wrist.
“Please don’t leave me.”
His face tightened.
“I’m coming back.”
But he left.
My best friend, Lena, wrapped both arms around me while every person I knew tried not to stare.
Nine minutes passed.
Then Nick returned.
He took my hand, guided me to a chair, and asked the guests to sit.
Martha was already smiling again.
She thought he was about to smooth everything over.
Nick picked up the microphone.
“Dear guests, I forgot to mention that I invited a special guest to our wedding.”
He turned toward the entrance.
An older woman in a navy dress stepped inside.
Martha’s champagne glass slipped from her hand.
“No.”
The woman stopped beneath the lights.
“Hello, Martha.”
May you like
My mother-in-law screamed.
Then she ran.
