Harrison sat in a strangely lumpy chair in town. He didn't like to make two trips to town in one day, but if he had thought for one second that Paige would be willing to chop off her glorious locks, he wouldn’t have left town without having it done at the only hair salon they had. That was where his lumpy chair sat—at the only salon. Like the restaurant, it was more like a men’s room at a truck stop than a beauty parlor, and he was letting one of his insane friends cut her hair.
It was Keziah’s stepmother, Narissa, who held the scissors. She was only six years older than Harrison. In many ways, she was more Harrison’s contemporary than Keziah who had just turned nineteen. Truth be told, Harrison would have rather dated Narissa than Keziah. There weren’t that many women in the area to choose from. He had dated Keziah because Narissa was unfortunately and irrevocably taken.
She was the one who told Harrison to buy a girl. He hadn’t known Narissa was a purchased woman until one night when she was closing the café and he was staying late because he couldn’t bear to go home to the void that waited for him there.
“Listen, Harrison,” she said, pushing her near-white hair out of her eyes and speaking levelly. “Give up on Keziah. She likes you to pieces, but if you make her live with you out there she’ll hate you forever. She’s never lived anywhere but here, and if she puts herself in your back pocket without ever experiencing anything for herself—there’s going to be a problem. And it will be your problem.”
Harrison twitched and refused to comment.
She wiped her soapy hands off on a tea towel and sat down across from him in the booth. “Unless I’m reading you wrong, you don’t even like Keziah that much. It’s just that she’s the only girl around.”
Harrison peered up at her. “There might be someone around that I like even better.”
“It’s no good, Harrison,” Narissa said. She smiled wanly and put her arm in front of him on the table. “Even if I wanted to have an affair with you, it’s out of the question. Do you see this?”
Harrison saw the sparkling wedding ring on her finger and asked, “Is that going to last forever?”
She saw his eyes on her wedding band and shook her head. “You’re looking at the wrong piece of jewelry. The wedding ring doesn’t mean much compared to this,” she said, flicking the bangle on her wrist. “Divorces are easy to get. Those kinds of contracts are easy to make and easy to break. This isn’t.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Wystan bought me.”
“Really?” Harrison exclaimed. He knew that purchased women were common among celebrities and playboys, but those kinds of sales went on in his little town? He didn't believe it.
Narissa reassured him that it was true.
“Does Keziah know?”
“Of course not! Wystan told her I was a live-in nurse.”
Harrison remembered the story. It was easy to believe since Wystan was chronically ill. It seemed natural when he brought someone to town to take care of him. Harrison had tried to date her back then, but she had told him immediately that she and Wystan planned to get married. That way she could help raise Keziah and look after the diner.
Harrison sighed in relief. As he relived the memory, he was strangely comforted by the revelation that she had not chosen Wystan over him. She had to be with Wystan because of their purchasing contract. Narissa didn’t reject him because Wystan was better for her.
“Will you get anything from him when he dies?” Harrison asked callously. He’d never liked Wystan and he hated the idea of Narissa having to nurse him.
Narissa wiped her nose on a paper napkin and said, “No, and they have to do several tests after he dies to make sure that I didn’t hasten it along. Besides, I have nothing to gain. He’s already signed the papers. When he dies, I’ll go back to Sleeping Beauty Inc., I’ll be sold again and the proceeds will go to Keziah. That’s what he decided.”
“Bastard!” Harrison swore crossly. “Couldn’t he have given you your freedom?”
Narissa sighed. Her blue eyes always looked sorrowful and tired, but those same eyes flicked up and her lips curved into a smile. “You shouldn’t feel sorry for me. I got myself into this mess and you know what? Wystan is a lot nicer than my last husband. Sure, he’s crazy, and sure, he works me hard, but he’s never once hit me. I’m fine with him. I hope he lives forever.”
Harrison rubbed his eyes. Hearing anything hinting at her affection towards Wystan was a little overwhelming for him. “So, you’re fine. What should I do about my problem?”
“You need a girl to live out at your place?”
“I’d rather have a girl than a guy.”
“Because you’d rather have someone to cook for you, clean for you, and basically be your slave?” Narissa said casually.
“You make me sound like a pig, Narissa, but I’m really not. I’m just lonely.”
She crossed her arms, taking the proof she was a purchased woman with her. “Whatever. I think you should go to the city and buy a girl rather than mess around with Keziah.”
Harrison kicked the table. “I already know she isn’t an option. She turned me down, and it’s not like I am going to haul her off by her hair.”
“So, what about buying a girl? Have you got any money?”
“I never thought about it before. How much would I need?”
“I don’t know. All I’m saying is that you should look into it.”
Harrison’s curiosity was ignited. “How did Wystan choose you?”
Narissa pulled her hair off her sticky forehead and leaned back inside the booth. “He went in and asked them to sell him the cheapest one they had in the Domestic Goddess category. That was me.”
Harrison was astounded. Narissa was amazing. She was patient, beautiful, capable, and he thought she was the perfect woman as far as he could imagine. It was unthinkable that she had been the cheapest one they had!
It was then that he made up his mind to give it a try.
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Harrison reflected on that night as he sat in a lumpy chair in Narissa’s makeshift hair salon that was actually an unusable customer bathroom and he realized that he recognized Paige’s brokenness much faster than he recognized Narissa’s. He hadn’t seen it before, but Narissa was messed up too. That was why she tolerated Wystan, who was clearly a rotten husband to her and a pitiful father to Keziah. As he watched Narissa’s scissors snap shut in clumsy, irregular motions, he came to understand something else. Narissa might not be getting better.
Did that mean that Paige would not get better either?
Harrison grimaced and turned away.
He’d already thought about it a hundred times. He didn’t have to buy Paige. He could have just waited for Wystan to kick the bucket. It might not have been that long of a wait. Then he could buy Narissa for himself.
It wouldn’t work.
Who knew how long Wystan would take to die? He wasn’t drinking himself to death in a huge hurry and his disease didn’t seem to be taking a turn for the worst. Unless Harrison was mistaken, Wystan was getting steadily better since Narissa came into his life. Keziah told him Narissa was slowly petering down the drunk’s alcohol intake. Well, good for her. The maniac would probably never die.
As for regretting buying Paige, Harrison hadn’t decided to let his mind wander that path yet. If he was desperate, he could always sell her again. At least, that was what Harrison thought before he bought her. Now he didn’t think he would have the heart to do such a thing. If he ever decided to let her go—he had to free her. He couldn’t sell her. She might end up in the hands of the sort of guy who had beaten Narissa and Harrison didn’t want that.
Besides, something was wrong with her.
She sat in the hairdresser’s chair that had stuffing sticking out between cracks in the broken vinyl and looked at herself in the faded mirror. With her hair gone, she looked like a cancer victim. Narissa could give them a lot more money if she didn’t spare Paige and cut off all her hair at the roots. Even though her appearance had been attacked heavily and she looked like a fairy doll before the doll maker put the hair on, she didn’t seem to mind. She didn’t cry. She didn’t wince with each snip of the scissors. She didn’t seem to feel anything.
She got out of the chair and Harrison awkwardly handed her one of his toques. “You can wear this,” he said.
Paige reached out to take it from him, but her hand slipped and the hat fell on the floor.
Harrison stooped to pick it up. When he stood upright, he put it directly on her head. “I don’t want you to be cold on the way back home.” Then he turned to the hairdresser. “Thanks, Narissa.”
She nodded and said, “I think I’ll be able to get close to three thousand dollars for it the next time I go to the city.”
“When is that?”
“Sometime next week.”
“Transfer me the money when you get it.”
“Will do,” she said. Then she turned away from them and wrapped the hair.
Harrison put his arm around Paige’s shoulders and led her out Wystan’s backdoor. She shivered slightly as they came into the yard where tiny snowflakes were coming down and settling on the heaps of abandoned appliances that Wystan stacked out there. Harrison suddenly grabbed one of her hands and shoved it in his coat pocket.
“Didn’t you buy gloves?” he asked, making an effort to keep the temper out of his voice.
Paige breathed steam in the cold air. “Sorry. I was dumb. I thought it was spring and it wouldn’t snow again.”
“The truck will warm up fast,” he said comfortingly as he pushed the gate open for her and gave her shoulders an extra squeeze.
----------------------------------------
Back at the house, Paige stood outside. Harrison had parked the truck in his hangar and Paige had decided to get a better look at Harrison’s land. There was more than just a house and she was curious to see what he had. When she told Harrison she wanted to look around, he laughed at her, reminded her the sun would set soon, and he gave her his scarf to tie around her neck. Then he went into the house to let her wander.
So she wandered.
Harrison’s house was an L shape. The long part of the L was the front of the house and the short part of the L was the back. The long part had the kitchen, dining room, great room, main bathroom, and a tiny wing off one side that had once been a conservatory. The back of the house was Harrison’s bedroom and his spare room. He had a bathroom that, for some strange reason, had huge windows in it that matched the ones in the conservatory at the other end of the house. Paige stared at it. Non-hazy windows in the bathroom? That seemed like a serious breach in protocol. Anyone could see inside, but then again—they were in the middle of nowhere. There was no one to see anything.
Paige’s tower came up in the corner of the L. The grassy bit was what Harrison called the courtyard. Paige supposed that it had been a beautiful, well-cared-for garden, but now it was in shambles. At least, it didn’t have old washers and dryers in it.
Paige sighed. She was starting to be impressed by the strangest things.
She walked up to a gazebo that stood in the corner opposite her tower. It was in pitiful disrepair, but it was pretty. That could be a good project for her, she thought as she circled it. She could fix it. But how? She was pretty sure the only reason she got assigned the category of Domestic Goddess was because… Here, Paige’s mind hit a blank.
Why was she in the Domestic Goddess category?
She scraped the sides of her head and put her fingers up Harrison’s toque in a vain effort to remember. The raw edges of her freshly cut hair felt unfamiliar to her fingers. Her mind was blank. She didn’t remember signing the papers at Sleeping Beauty Inc.
Even if she didn’t have the skills of a Domestic Goddess, there was nothing she had not been willing to do for the man she loved. It was a shock that she had decided not to keep any of her memories of him. Didn’t she love him more than anything?
Paige felt her scalp again.
He had liked long hair. She’d obviously grown it out for him. But for her, those long ropes of hair had seemed strange when she woke up. It made her feel like she was borrowing someone else’s skin, borrowing someone else’s hair, borrowing someone else’s life. If she didn’t remember the time the hair grew, it seemed wrong to have it. Chopping her hair off gave her a clean slate. With new clothes and a new haircut, she felt more hopeful.
Besides, Harrison wasn’t such a bad guy. She could see him holding a mug in the front room. He was probably still laughing at her. Well, she didn't know that she wasn't funny for standing in an empty field just looking around.
She turned her back to him and came face to face with a gigantic cow. Her eyes went wide. It was humongous. Paige had never seen such a big animal that wasn’t caged or tethered before. Its eyes were huge and so close she could see the veins in them.
What should she do? If she ran away, would it chase her? Paige stood perfectly still. That was what you were supposed to do when a wild animal came up to you, right? She didn’t move a muscle, but flaming hot panic was racing through her whole body.
The cow took a step toward her.
She was paralyzed. Biting her lip, she tried not to scream. The cow didn’t move. It just stood there, watching her.
Minutes passed.
It seemed to be sizing her up, but why? Cows were herbivores. Well, maybe it thought her yellow coat looked appetizing. Paige reached down and pulled up a pathetic little clump of dead grass out of the snow. The stalks weren’t very long and Paige had to reach far to get it close to the animal’s mouth. Her heart pounded. Then the cow chomped down the grass and almost chomped down Paige’s hand with it. She pulled her hand away, trailing a puddle of cow slobber with it.
At that moment, Harrison came striding up with his hands in his pockets. He jumped on the spot and the cow seemed so afraid of him that it took off at a dead run.
Paige’s shoulders fell.
Harrison chuckled deeply.
“Why was it scared of you and not me?” Paige demanded.
Harrison caught his breath, but he was still unmistakably merry. “You stood still. All you needed to do was make one sudden movement and it probably would have taken off.”
“How was I supposed to know that?”
“You were so cute trying to feed it.” Harrison wiped away an imaginary tear. Then he pulled himself together and suddenly brought the indignant Paige into a hug. “You know what I’ve decided? This place is going to be good for you. You’ll see.”
Paige put her arms around him, too. He wasn’t the one she wanted, but under the circumstances, he would have to do.
“Let’s go into the house. I’m going to tell you what I bought you for.”
“Huh? I thought you already did.”