Page 55 of You Found Me
Annie grinned. “Good. If you don’t recognize yourself, hopefully nobody else will either. That’s the idea, anyway.”
Annie handed her a small crossbody purse in navy blue. There were no embellishments. It was the kind of bag she’d seen in bargain bins. Or trash cans. “I put the lip gloss and mascara in here, along with a new burner phone. There’s only one number programmed. Don’t call it unless it’s a real emergency, and don’t call anybody else. Burner doesn’t mean untraceable, no matter what they say in the movies. It just takes a few extra steps, and we have to assume your stalker is more than willing to do whatever he has to do to find you. So no calls. Of any kind. Okay?”
Della rolled her eyes. “You’ve only said it twenty or thirty times.”
Annie’s stare of disbelief was so similar to Lizzie’s that it almost made Della laugh. “Not your sister, your manager, your next-door neighbor…nobody.Especiallynot Scott.”
Della held up her hands in surrender. “I got it. I don’t want anyone else to get hurt. No parties. No calls. No emails or texts or hookups. Promise.”
“Atta girl.” Annie picked up the bag again and opened the door. “Come on. Let’s show Ward your new style.”
It was almost worth all of the hair-chopping trauma to see the look on Ward’s face when she walked into the streaming room.
His eyebrows rose, and he blinked at her.
Twice.
She managed a timid smile. “What do you think?”
Ward stared at her. Just stared. The tiny muscles along the side of his jaw twitched.
She ran her fingers through her newly shorn hair. “Like it?”
Ward opened his mouth to speak, then snapped it shut.
Something inside her, worn down by the highs of the concert and the lows of the rest of the night, snapped. “You look great, Ms. Bellamy,” she filled in for him. “You really went the extra mile. Can’t believe you cut your hair off like that. Way to sell the new identity.”
Ward frowned. Was the man’s face broken? Had his vocal cords been damaged?
“You know,” Della said with a huff of frustration, “I think I’m going out of my way to play along with this whole thing. I’ve done everything you said you wanted. I…we…cut my hair and changed my clothes, and I’m ready to go with you even though you haven’t told me a damn thing about where we’re going. The least you could do is say, I don’t know, good work? Job well done? Thank you? Anything?”
Ward jerked his head as if she’d struck a nerve somewhere in his neck. “It’s done, anyway.” He directed a glare at Annie. “I asked for inconspicuous. Not…Lucille Ball goes country.”
Della glanced at her reflection in the decorative mirror on the wall. Lucille Ball. She’d watched all the late-nightI Love Lucyreruns after getting in from a party or after a show. It was a great way to wind down. “I don’t think that’s the insult you think it is. Lucille Ball was a badass.”
“Look with your eyes, not your attitude,” Annie said. “She’s exactly like a lot of women her age. They love to make statements with hair and body art. She’ll blend right in, and luckily her tattoo is easily hidden.”
Ward tilted his head at Della. “Tattoo?”
Della lifted her hair so he could see the four bells entwined by a ribbon infinity symbol at her hairline along the back of her neck. “Bellamy Babes Forever. We all have one.”
“Great.” Ward closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
“I kept her hair long enough to cover it.” Annie sounded more than a little irritated. “As long as she keeps it styled like this, nobody will ever see it. If it becomes an issue, I’ve also given her makeup to cover it. She’ll pass.”
“I need her to do more than just pass, Annie. I need her invisible. How’s she supposed to be wallpaper looking like that?” Ward waved his hand at Della.
“You want me to be wallpaper?” Della said a little louder than she’d intended. She might as well be with the way Ward ignored her whenever she was in the room. “Why not just dump me in a prison in Mexico? At least you’d be rid of me.”
Ward shot her a look. She wasn’t sure if he was exasperated or maybe a little sorry. “That’s not what I meant.”
“Take her somewhere and test it out if you don’t believe me.” Annie crossed her arms in challenge. “I guarantee nobody will recognize her. Who’s better at going unnoticed, you or me?”
Ward opened his mouth, but Annie cut him off. “Before you answer, let me remind you that she has to look like every other girl on the street because that’s where she’ll be. Whereyou’re going you can’t keep her behind locked doors. People will notice.”
They stared at each other like they were having an argument in silence.
“Fine.” Ward’s phone buzzed. He jerked it out of his back pocket and glared at it, then started tapping a response to someone. He hit the screen so hard that the phone almost popped out of his hand.