Chasing Perfect (Fool's Gold #1)(74)

“Thank you.”

The old woman started to leave, then paused. Her expression turned sly. “He proposed yet?”

Charity felt the color flooding her face. Anywhere but here, she thought grimly. She wanted to be anywhere but here.

“We’re still dating. Getting to know each other.”

“I wouldn’t be as concerned about him proposing. There’s a bigger danger.”

Several of the women laughed. Charity didn’t get it until one of them added, “Feeling any cravings, hon?”

“No. I’m good. But thanks for asking.”

“Leave her alone,” Julia said firmly. “All of you. You’ll scare her off and we’ll never see her again.”

The old woman waved and left. The conversation shifted to more comfortable topics. Julia got out a blow dryer. Once she turned it on, Charity couldn’t hear anything that was being said—probably a good thing.

She promised herself she was never, ever getting her hair done in town, again. Or if she did anything, she would go see Morgan. She doubted he would bother her with a lot of personal questions.

Asking about Josh was one thing, but hinting she might be pregnant was way too intrusive. And annoying, she thought. Just because everyone knew Josh didn’t mean they had the right to butt into his personal life. There were rules in polite society. Expectations and—

“Here you go,” Julia said and turned the chair.

Charity was prepared to simply pay and run. She didn’t want to deal with the teasing anymore. But when she caught sight of herself in the mirror, she couldn’t move. She could only stare.

Her once boring plain brown hair was now rich and shiny. There were hints of gold and a tiny whisper of red threaded through the strands. But even more amazing was the cut.

Julia had shortened her hair to just below her jaw, then blown it under in a perfect bob. Feathered bangs made her eyes seem huge. When she moved her head, her hair swayed, then fell perfectly into place. It was the best cut she’d ever received in her life.

“It’s perfect,” she breathed. “I love it.”

“Good. Do you have a big round brush?”

Charity nodded her head, mostly to watch her hair move.

Julia demonstrated the way to get the shape right, explained what products worked best and how to use them. Charity listened carefully, then paid her bill and left a large tip. The fact that everyone in the salon would talk about her after she was gone didn’t bother her one bit. Not when her hair looked so good.

She walked back toward the hotel, catching her reflection every now and then and smiling as she saw her hair move. When she walked by Morgan’s bookstore, the old man stuck his head out the open door.

“Lookin’ good, pretty lady.”

She laughed. “Thank you.”

“Hope Josh knows he’s a lucky man.”

“I’ll tell him in case he doesn’t.”

“You do that.”

Now, feeling fabulous, she could think about the conversation in the salon and tell herself no one meant anything bad by their meddling. Josh was important to them, and with her dating him, she was part of what was going on. Although things had gotten out of hand with the whole pregnancy topic. That wasn’t a subject to kid about. Talk about a disaster. An unplanned pregnancy would…

Charity stopped in front of the hotel and stared at the beautiful old building. But instead of seeing the impressive architecture or the gleaming windows, she stared at the mental calendar in her head and tried to do the math. Exactly how many days had it been since her last period?

She hurried inside, calling distracted greetings when the staff welcomed her. When she reached the third floor, she ran to her room, raced inside and closed the door behind her. Her date book was on the desk by the wall. She flipped back until she found the day with a little daisy by the date—her private notation of her period’s arrival—then counted forward.

As the numbers mounted, so did her panic. She counted a second time and got the same number. She was two weeks late. Two weeks.

Her first thought was to rush to the nearest drugstore, buy a test and find out. Then she thought of all the people who would see her and how the information would be spread from one end of town to the other in a matter of minutes. Which meant what? That she had to drive to the next town?

She was halfway across the room, heading for her car keys, when she remembered the pregnancy test Josh had bought when Emily had insisted she was pregnant with his baby. He’d handed the kit to Charity who had brought it to her room and put it where?

It took two minutes of frantic drawer pulling to find it, another few seconds to get in the bathroom and pee, then three minutes of pacing until she could know one way or the other.

She stared at the two straight lines, then at the chart in the instructions.

She was pregnant.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHARITY STARED AT THE stick for a long time, then carefully wrapped it in tissue and put it in her pocket. She would have to get rid of it somewhere other than her room. Because the maid would probably tell the entire town what it said.

After circling the room several times, Charity realized she couldn’t stay here. Not with her mind swirling and her stomach flipping and flopping and her hands shaking. Maybe walking somewhere would help. She didn’t have anywhere to go, but right now a destination seemed highly overrated.