Ella rolled her eyes and Dave snorted. She had been anything other than shy when talking to him in the past, and he knew it. “Well, I hate to keep you waiting. I should be able to do it tomorrow. I have to go now, though. I have some business to attend to.” “Great,” Lon said. “We’ll see you then.” He disconnected the call. Ella jumped up and grabbed her phone from him. “What was that all about?” she hissed. “You’re going to make him think I like him!” “That’s the idea,” Lon said. “This is our ticket to riches, I can feel it.” Ella shook her head, exasperated at the liberties her boss had taken on that phone call. “And I’m getting my hair done? What are you talking about?” “Well,” Lon began, in a tone Ella knew meant he was more than determined. “Since apparently you thought it was acceptable to bring your boyfriend along on a stakeout, I figured you could at least do this one thing for me.” “He’s not my boyfriend! And stakeout? We’ll just be watching some lady, trying to catch her walking through the windows so we can tell the insurance company she’s committing fraud! Not much of a stakeout!” “Doesn’t matter, darling. You invited him without asking me. Not very appropriate to bring your dates on official business. How am I supposed to know if I can trust you anymore?” Ella shook her head profusely. “Lon, listen to me,” she pleaded. “I just said that because he gave me a ride home yesterday and I felt bad. I didn’t think he’d actually take me up on it!” “Excuses,” Lon dismissed. “And I don’t even have a curling iron or anything! How am I supposed to do my hair differently? Why’d you have to throw that in?” “Oh, I didn’t mean a new hairstyle,” Lon corrected her. “No, no. We need to add more blond.” “I’m already blond!” Ella shouted furiously. Her blood pressure was rising, and she could feel herself trembling. Lon just looked at her, keeping his composure. “You’re more of a dirty blonde. You could go much lighter. Your attitude will be the death of you,” he told her. “What man wants a woman who’s always so sassy?” Ella could feel her blood boiling. She almost involuntarily kneed him in the testicles, but stopped herself last minute. She sank down into her desk chair, instead, burying her face in her hands. “I’m not getting out of this, am I?” she asked, her voice muffled behind her hands. “Nope,” Lon answered. She could hear the smile in his voice. “Don’t worry, though, dear. You’ll thank me later.” Ella just sank deeper into her hands, wondering how on earth she had found herself in this predicament. She cursed herself, realizing if she had just had the wherewithal to call Dave herself, none of this would have happened. Lon made a quick, quiet phone call, then turned back to Ella. She looked up at him, and he was grinning widely. “You’re in luck,” he told her. “Isabella can do your hair today. Just in time for your big date.” “I don’t have any money to pay her,” Ella mumbled. “It’s on the house,” Lon told her. “Although, feel free to tip her for fitting you in on such short notice. You’d better get going. I’m told it takes quite a while to do a full set of highlights.” Ella pushed back from her office chair. She hadn’t gotten much work done so far today, anyway. Leaving a little early wouldn’t hurt anything, although she wasn’t so sure about the lightener that would be going on her head. “Trust me,” Lon said, standing with his arms crossed over his chest as Ella made her way to the door, “Men love blondes.” “Your wife is a brunette,” Ella pointed out. “I know, but my wife is special. She can pull off what most women can’t.” Ella actually enjoyed driving the Toyota. She remembered her father telling her that you could never go wrong with a Toyota or Honda and, true to his word, the car hardly had any miles on it at all. It was much nicer than anything Ella would be able to afford in this lifetime, she figured. Ella cautiously walked into Lon and Isabella’s house, making her way to the basement, which Isabella had converted into her salon. There was another woman there, a little older than Isabella, sitting under a hair dryer. She wore bright red lipstick and raised an eyebrow when Ella entered. “Sit,” Isabella told Ella, gesturing to a styling chair that sat in front of a mirror. Ella sat down wordlessly, and Isabella began to brush through her hair. “This will probably take a little while, so feel free to read a magazine.” Ella nodded, her eyes moving to the fashion magazines on the coffee table. Isabella stepped away to mix the lightener with developer as Ella looked in the mirror, saying a silent goodbye to her natural hair color. “Lon and I are very excited for you,” Isabella began. Ella grimaced. “Meeting a young, rich man doesn’t happen every day. What does he do for a living?” “I don’t know.” Ella shrugged. “I think he gets all his money from his dad, and I’m not sure what his dad does, to be honest.” “Well, you’d better not ask,” Isabella cautioned her. “If you did, then you and Lon might have to investigate him. Better to just leave it be.” “You think he’s into something criminal?” Ella questioned incredulously. “I don’t know if he is or not,” Isabella said. “But it’s best to just not ask. And my husband is right, men do tend to prefer blondes. Men like shiny things. We’re just going to take your natural blond, and make it lighter. It’ll go much better with your skin tone, too.” Ella hadn’t thought about that. She was rather pale, and the winter air wasn’t helping matters. “I guess that’s true,” she said hesitantly. “You should try glitter eyeshadow,” the woman sitting under the hair dryer added. Ella looked at her in the mirror. “That’s what my daughter does, and she always has a boyfriend.” Ella merely nodded. Ella was so exhausted she fell asleep while Isabella was putting lightener on her hair and foiling it up. Eventually, Isabella nudged her awake to bring her to the sink, where she rinsed Ella’s hair, then led her back to the styling chair. Ella’s eyes went wide when she saw herself in the mirror. Isabella noticed Ella’s distress, and reassured her, “It always looks yellow when you first rinse it out. I haven’t put on the toner yet. Once I do that, it’ll be a nice, ashy blond. Don’t worry.” Ella nodded, relieved. Isabella dried her hair, then applied the toner. While her hair processed under a cap, she struck up a conversation with Ella. “You know, Lon and I both think very highly of you. You are trying very hard to make something of yourself,” she started. “Thank you,” Ella mumbled. “Just remember: it’s okay to accept help sometimes. You don’t have to do everything alone. I can tell you like this Dave character, because if you didn’t, you wouldn’t be letting me bleach your hair right now.” “Lon was pretty insistent.” “I’m sure he was, but still. You’re both equally stubborn. And you are allowed to like Dave. He clearly likes you, as well, or he wouldn’t have let you borrow his car.” “He has a lot of them.” “That’s of no consequence. He had someone deliver you a car, Ella. Men don’t just do stuff like that for no reason.” “You’re saying nothing is free,” Ella said flatly. It was, really, what she was afraid of: that Dave just wanted to get into her pants, and this was his attempt at doing it. “Nothing in life is free. But men don’t give you a car if they only want to have sex with you. A meal, maybe, but not a car. I don’t care how rich the man is.” Ella pondered Isabella’s words. Could Dave really have feelings for me? Ella wondered. Do I have feelings for him? She didn’t know if she could deny that she did, which was ridiculous, because she barely knew him. Still, he had challenged her, engaged her on some sort of deeper level than anyone else ever had, and, although she wasn’t sure how to handle it, she didn’t want it to stop, either. “Don’t feel guilty about Jack, either,” Isabella cautioned Ella. Jack, Ella thought. She had completely forgotten about him. The thought of him and his unrequited, unrelinquished love for her had entirely escaped her mind the past few days. She felt almost ashamed she had forgotten about her only friend. “You don’t owe anyone anything you don’t want to give them,” Isabella continued, “and if you don’t feel the same way for Jack as he feels for you, well, he’s just not the one for you. There will be another woman for him, and he’ll be happy, just the same.” Isabella rinsed out the toner and gave her hair a trim, chopping off the dead ends. Ella was glad to see that her hair was not overly processed, like Anastasia’s, but a very pretty, cool blond color. Isabella rolled her hair into rollers and directed her to sit under the dryer. Ella knew Isabella was a little old school; she was older, after all. At least the rollers were larger in size, so the curls would be bigger rather than ringlets, which she thought would probably drive her crazy. Ella was happy with the results of her hair makeover. The highlights had accomplished exactly what Isabella had said they would, and her skin was looking less ghostly. She smiled hesitantly in the mirror, thanked Isabella and made her way to the Tremaine house. Luckily, no one was home when she arrived, although she wasn’t sure where everyone had gone off to. Ella decided she didn’t care. Their absence gave her time to think up an excuse as to where in the world she had gotten a newer, much nicer car so quickly, and why her hair was now two shades lighter than before. Ella’s phone pinged with a text from Jack. Can’t wait to see you after work tomorrow! What time will you be off? :) Ella groaned. She had forgotten that she had promised Jack she would spend time with him after work, as she had forgotten the following day was also her birthday. She quickly texted Jack a confirmation and set off to clean the house before anyone arrived home. Of course, Anastasia, Charlotte and Lacey arrived home at the same time, evidently having gone to the mall together. Anastasia’s eyes narrowed in Ella’s direction as she sucked on her frappe through a straw. Ella ignored her. Charlotte went off to her room carrying Lucifer, grumbling about how she wasn’t allowed to buy some clothing she had wanted. “Ella,” Lacey began, her green eyes peering into her soul, “Whose car is that out front?” “I borrowed it from a friend,” Ella responded hesitantly, continuing to wipe down the kitchen table. “What friend?” Lacey persisted. “Annabelle. You don’t know her,” Ella told her. “My car broke down, so she let me borrow her family’s extra car for a small fee until I can get another one.” Ella thought she’d rather like to avoid explaining the situation with Dave to Lacey. “Interesting,” Lacey drawled, sounding unimpressed with the lie. “Did you dye your hair?” Anastasia interrupted. “It’s that sun-in stuff from the drug store,” Ella told her. “It’s not summertime,” Anastasia said. Ella shrugged. “I put my head under a lamp.” Lacey closed the distance between herself and Ella, grasping Ella’s hand and stopping her from continuing to clean. Ella hesitantly met Lacey’s eyes. “I’m not sure what’s been going on with you lately,” Lacey spoke, “but you’d better figure it out and get everything back to normal. That car better not be stolen.” “I wouldn’t steal a car,” Ella defended herself. “No one would ever lend someone like you a car like that. No one would ever lend you anything, because you’re a stupid, ugly servant girl who never accomplishes anything, and who no one would remember anything about were you to disappear one day. I’ve been so nice, Mary-Beth, allowing you to stay in this house and eat my food and use my water and electricity. That can go away at any moment. If you’re wise, you won’t push your luck.” Lacey released Ella’s hand and stepped back. Anastasia snickered. “She’s probably whoring herself out,” Anastasia said, malevolence swimming in her brown eyes. The two walked away from Ella and into the kitchen, leaving Ella alone. Ella was upset with herself for being frightened of Lacey. It had been years since Lacey had physically harmed her, yet she still felt dread anytime Lacey so much as touched her in passing. She also felt hurt by Anastasia’s accusation, even though it wasn’t true. She hadn’t done anything with Dave, and she didn’t ask to borrow the car. He had willingly sent it to her, without her even asking for help. Ella had nothing because of her stepmother. One good thing happening to her shouldn’t make Lacey so upset. Ella quietly cleaned, reminding herself that she wasn’t the problem here. Even as she told herself that none of this was her fault, she couldn’t help but feel guilty. She shouldn’t, and she knew she shouldn’t, but she had lived in this house too long, and her emotions had been manipulated over time, until she believed she really didn’t deserve more than what she had. Ella let her mice take turns running around on her bed before she went to sleep. She looked at the picture of her mother that sat on her dresser. “I promise I’ll find out what happened to you, Mom,” Ella whispered. “Even if it’s the last thing I ever do.” ⧫ “This is boring,” Dave complained. He sat in the car with Ella, parked near the house of the woman she was supposed to be trying to catch committing insurance fraud. “We’re just waiting for a woman to leave her house. Which she isn’t doing.” “I don’t think she’s lying about her injuries,” Ella mumbled. “I’m pretty sure her legs really are shattered.” Ella’s emotions had been all over the place that morning. She had managed to keep Lon away from Dave, which was a difficult accomplishment, but she didn’t need Lon embarrassing her any further. Ella and Dave hadn’t been arguing, but they hadn’t talked about the last time they’d seen each other, either. Dave was casual, and Ella felt almost embarrassed being around him. She hadn’t exactly been the nicest person to him in the past, although he certainly wasn’t a saint himself. Still, he had lent her his car for no reason other than out of the kindness of his heart. Ella wasn’t used to being given something for free, with no strings attached. She felt as though there weren’t any expectations of her from him, and she wasn’t accustomed to such selflessness. “Can’t we do something fun?” Dave whined. “There has to be something interesting you do.” Ella sighed. “Well,” she said, “There’s a church not far from here. I caught the pastor’s wife doing cocaine.” “Really?” Ella nodded. “Yeah. She and a client’s husband were having an affair. I don’t think the pastor knows anything about it.”