12 Borrowing Trouble Read Online Free Page B

they would need the next day.  And she was doing it alone mostly, because Sean had been working any job he could find to pay for what they all needed.  
    “I don’t know, Terri.  It’s been a long time since I went out.”
    “All the more reason you need it,” Terri persisted.
    Carrie sighed and folded her arms under her breasts to lean back against the counter.  It looked like Terri Rhodes wasn’t letting her off the hook.  Her determined face and posture said she wasn’t.  Carrie would feel like a fish out of water at that bar, would probably look like one too, but really what would it hurt?
    “Okay,” Carrie finally agreed with a heavy sigh.
    “Good .” Terri stepped beside her to give her a push.  “Now go get your butt ready.  We’ve got shopping to do.”  Carrie wiped her hands on the dishtowel, heaved a breath and headed upstairs to change.
    Five hours later, as she sat in the chair in the salon with her back turned to the mirror , Carrie wondered what the hell she would look like when the hairdresser Sadie spun her back toward the mirror, and what she’d gotten herself into. 
    She was a little afraid. 
    Sadie had been at this makeup thing for a long while now.  She’d applied things, then had gone back for a second coat.  Carrie had a bad feeling she’d end up looking like she’d applied the makeup with a putty knife.  Right now, she was leaned over Carrie applying eyeliner with an eerily steady hand. 
    After the power-sh opping trip Leigh Ann had put her and Terri through at the mall, Carrie was almost too tired now to go to that bar tonight.  Her head was spinning, and Terri’s credit card smoking.  They had gone to dress stores, western stores, shoe stores, and other stores Carrie had no idea what their purpose was.  No matter how much she protested at the prices or selections, the women just smiled and nodded, then shoved more clothes at her to try on.   By the time they finally pulled back up to the ranch, Joel had to help to unload the truck.  Carrie had a whole new wardrobe she felt sure she would never get to wear except tonight.
    Sadie stood back up and stared at her with a critical eye.  Carrie met her overly made up blue eyes and hoped like hell the woman hadn’t mimicked her own look on her face.  She rarely wore makeup, and when she did, she definitely didn’t wear as much as the salon manager.   Carrie’s hair was still up in a towel.  She didn’t know what had been done to her hair either and she was damned nervous, because a while ago Sadie had put so many pieces of aluminum foil in her hair, Carrie thought for sure she could pick up alien messages from outer space.
    “Damn, I’m good,” Sadie said with a satisfied grin.
    “Yes, you are,” Leigh Ann seconded with a matching grin.  The spunky little blonde leaned forward to snatch the towel off of her head and her damp hair plopped down on her shoulders.  “We need to hurry up with her hair,” she said and her smile widened.  “My handsome husband and son are taking me out to dinner.”
    “Oh, yeah?” Sadie asked spinning the chair around, so she faced the mirror again.  “What’s the occasion?”
    “They love me.  That’s always cause to celebrate,” Leigh Ann replied with a satisfied smirk for the hairdresser. 
    Carrie’s gaze swu ng to the mirror and she stifled a gasp.  She had no idea who the hell that pretty woman staring back at her was, but it couldn’t be her.  Her rose-tinted lips looked moist and full, and because it was wet, her especially dark hair made her brown eyes look wide and luminous with the smudged smoky liner and beige eye shadow.   The makeup wasn’t overly done as she suspected it would be.  It was perfect.  Something she would probably never be able to accomplish on her own though.  Sadie’s eyes met hers in the mirror and Carrie smiled at her. 
    As if reading her mind, Sadie said, “We don’t have time tonight, or you’ll be late for the ball,