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.Knowing that he had little choice in the matter, he unlocked the door and opened up.“Thank goodness you’re okay…I was worried something had happened to you when you didn’t pick up,” Angela said, walking in before she even processed what her eyes had seen.She was too busy staring at the floor and shaking her head at her useless worrying.“I’m sorry.I took a catnap earlier—well, it was supposed to be a—oh my goodness…” Finally, she glanced up and gave Vince some real attention.She zipped her lips immediately, not wanting him to feel like a spectacle.“Sorry, I didn’t hear my phone ring.I must’ve left it in my room.It was probably still on vibrate from chemo.And I was…busy, obviously,” Vince said, never having felt as foolish as he did right now.What exactly had led him to believe that answering the door in this state would be wise?“Wow, so you’re finally going for it?” Angela said breathily as she took in the left half of Vince’s head that was already bare.She had never realized he’d had such a big head.“Finally?” Vince said with a raised eyebrow.“Should I have done this sooner?”Hastily, Angela shook her head.“That’s not what I meant, you know that.”“I take it you noticed my disappearing hair, though.”“Well, yeah, the hat was kind of a dead giveaway, but I didn’t want to say anything.”“Did the Harry and Sophie notice when they came over the other night?” Vince asked, rather curious.Angela shrugged.“I have no idea.Neither one of them said anything to me.Anyway, I’m sorry about tonight.I didn’t mean to sleep that long.”Vince shook his head.“Don’t worry about it.I figured you had better plans pop up.Apparently I was right,” he said with an ephemeral grin.“Well, you’re clearly busy now, and it’s a little late, I guess, so I’ll take off.I just had to check and make sure everything was all right since you didn’t answer.You know me.”He did.“You don’t have to go.You drove all this way…and you’ve seen me with half a head of shaving cream.Mind sticking around and giving me an honest opinion when I’m done?”Angela couldn’t begin to describe how little she minded.She nodded with well-masked eagerness, following Vince back to the master bathroom.Not surprisingly, his bedclothes were plain and meticulously arranged, his sheets probably made with hospital corners.Not a thing looked out of place except for her.His bathroom was equally tidy, save for the evidence of what he’d been up to before she’d arrived.She could honestly say she’d never watched a man shave his head before.But now she was in Vince’s bathroom, leaning against the door frame, for no other purpose, apparently, than to watch him get rid of the rest of his hair and await the result.Neither spoke while Vince focused somewhat on the task of finishing shaving nick-free.The remainder of his mental resources involved trying to reason with himself.He’d just resolved to live life like he meant it from now on, to be unafraid of the new and uncertain, to pursue Angela in earnest if he sensed she would be receptive.Did this mean he should make a move? That depended.Did her panic over him not answering his phone mean anything? She was always concerned about him in one way or another.Had her constant but usually subtler worrying over him ever meant anything? Was she studying him right now in deep thought over what could be, or was she merely watching in awe as he gave himself perhaps one of the most dramatic makeovers she’d ever seen?Vince had let his mind wander too far.Distracted, he wasn’t careful enough with the unfamiliar terrain on the back of his head and cut himself badly enough to elicit a hiss end force his eyes shut.Angela immediately pulled a tissue from the box nearby and handed it over.He thanked her quietly and pressed it firmly to his skin to ward off the stinging and bleeding, wondering if his other nicks had started to scab over already.“I don’t think I’ve cut myself this much since I first started shaving thirty years ago,” he said in a dark tone.“Well, you’re almost done,” Angela said, her throat parched.There was something completely foreign about Vince without hair, especially when he sported a burgeoning beard that he would never let grow at work.She was used to the latter by now, as he’d only been keeping its edges neat instead of shaving it for the last couple of weeks.As she was thinking about how handsome she found his beard, she realized how silly she was being.Vince was looking at himself in the mirror, seeing a man he’d never seen before, and she was seeing it, too.No matter what came to pass between the two of them, this was a moment to cherish.To get herself more in tune with him, she wondered what she herself would look like bald and wondered what Vince was thinking of his new look, almost complete.She couldn’t imagine being as direct and fearless as he was being right now [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]