Lies, Deceptions, And Misunderstandings

12. A Wonderful Idea

Carissa could see the fear on Kaylee's face and the stunned look on Taylor's. She also saw that some of Taylor's hair was wrapped around the barrel of the curling iron and no longer attached to his head.

"What were you thinking, girls?" yelled Carissa, before immediately realizing she had scared them even further.

She quickly bent down and checked Taylor for burns.

"She's okay. Everyone relax, it's going to be fine. No biggie, I can handle this. Craig, take them down to the to the kitchen."

Carissa held her heart for a moment before she turned and pulled the plug on the hot curling iron.

She ran into the bathroom, opening the clamp to release the hair before tossing the hot iron in the sink and then ran into the kitchen where everyone now was. She again bent down in front of Taylor, smothering him with kisses.

Carissa lifted his chin, brushed the hair off his forehead and spoke. "Let me call Virginia. She lives next door and works at my salon. She can fix it."

Carissa retrieved her phone and dialed a number.

Within ten minutes, her neighbor was at the door.

"Aren't you two looking adorable!" Virginia exclaimed as she entered the living room.

"Sit here honey and we'll fix you right up," she told Taylor, motioning to the dining room chair Carissa had just placed in the center of the room.

Taylor cautiously took a seat and Virginia wrapped a hair stylist's cape around Taylor's neck.

Looking at the damaged area, she made an assessment. "This is nothing. I burnt off a customer's hair once, too, Kaylee. It was worse than this and I'm a pro. It happens."

"She now knows hot curling irons aren't toys," said Carissa, rubbing Kaylee's back. "Right honey?"

"I just wanted her to have pretty curls like you, mommy," said Kaylee, sobbing.

"She will honey. If that's what she wants, I can do that some other time," said Virginia, wetting Taylor's hair with a spray bottle, and combing through it. "Just not tonight though. Tonight, let's fix our little oops because it's pretty late. We'll save the curls for another day."

"I tell you what, Kaylee. I promise I'll get both of you up curled up all nice and pretty, just promise your mommy you won't use my curling iron without permission ever again, okay?" Carissa lectured. "This is not a toy, girls."

"Yes, mommy," said Kaylee as she watched Virginia work on Taylor's hair.

"And never at the max temperature either, honey," Virginia added. "Hair like hers will take a curl pretty quickly, even at a much lower setting."

Virginia brushed through the front of Taylor's hair and looked over at Craig and Carissa. "Not a lot of options, Carissa. I'm going to get rid of all the mismatched lengths and split ends, too, while I'm here. She really needs a good haircut. Obviously it's been too long."

Carissa looked at Craig, who was shrugging his shoulders and nodding his head at Virginia.

She dampened the rest of his head with her spray bottle and ruggedly brushed through his hair, removing any sweaty tangles from the helmet and earlier braiding.

It didn't take long until his left eye was completely covered by his hair, but on the right there was a big gap from a section burnt off. She combed feverishly down his forehead and then quickly across his brow line, and suddenly his line of sight was crystal clear again.

He looked down, and saw strands of hair slide towards the floor as she began snipping at the left and then the right. He could see his brother looking dumbfounded as this all happened very quickly.