How To Marry Your Husband by Anne Brooke Read Free Book Online Page A

hairdresser keeps nodding as Olivia lets her know what she would like for the wedding day: soft curls and shoulder length. She doesn’t need anything dressy as she’s already bought an ivory dupion silk hair band that matches her dress. It keeps her hair in place and she isn’t planning to wear a veil or anything nonsensical. If she’s getting married, she wants everyone to see her from the get-go. She’s never been a believer in false modesty.
    Soon enough, Olivia and Bernie are in the upstairs bathroom, washing her hair at the sink. “I always like to try out what my ladies want,” Bernie says. “I like them to feel they’re in safe hands.”
    “Good idea,” Olivia murmurs from beneath the lather, though she isn’t sure about being addressed as any kind of lady. Bernie doesn’t appear to be old enough for that, but maybe it’s another of the results of living in the country – people speak as if they’re living in the 1900s. She makes a mental note to stay in the town for as long as possible.
    After towel-drying her hair, Bernie gives her a trim, taking off about half-an-inch to make it shoulder-length. The cut is good, and Olivia feels a burst of gratitude towards her mother for the recommendation. She feels even better when Bernie has finished style-drying her, and she can see the full – well, almost full as she doesn’t have the curls she wants yet – effect.
    “Oh yes,” Olivia says with a smile. “That’s great. I love that. Thank you. Can we book a date for the perm?”
    “Of course! I’d advise about a month before your big day, so that would be August, wouldn’t it?”
    It certainly would. Five minutes later, and Olivia has an appointment with Bernie at her home at the beginning of August. This will give the new look plenty of time to settle down and look its best for the wedding. Result!
    Ah, if only Olivia were able to foretell the future, then she may not have been quite so confident …
    August comes along soon enough, and Olivia parks her car at Bernie’s house near the sea and checks her purse. Yes, plenty of money for payment plus a tip. She’ll also have to firm up Bernie’s availability for the wedding morning. She’d said that would be fine already, but Olivia likes to have her timeslots sorted. She isn’t a secretary at work for nothing.
    After the chat is done and the coffee drunk, Bernie sets to work. During the two hours Olivia spends being titivated, she learns a huge amount about Bernie’s childhood, her big city upbringing, and how much she misses London but she had to move to the country because of her husband’s job. Olivia learns all about Bernie’s love of ballroom dancing and how she’d once been the Junior Ballroom Dancing Champion of her region when she was in her late teens. Sadly, she’d injured her leg when getting off a bus one morning and has never been the same since. She’d given up her ballroom dancing career and had trained to be a hairdresser instead. She loves colour and people and so it seems, to Bernie, to be a pretty decent alternative.
    Olivia isn’t sure there really is much in common between dancing and hair, but she decides not to say anything because she doesn’t want to break Bernie’s concentration. Anyway it seems to be enough to say ‘hmm’ and ‘oh dear’ every so often and, besides, she can’t cut in with anything else because Bernie’s flow of words is unstoppable.
    Here, Olivia is impressed. She’s always reckoned herself to be the talkative one in her family and in her relationship but she’s more than met her match today. Is this part of the reason why her mother was convinced she and Bernie would get on so well? Or maybe it’s revenge – Olivia can’t put it past her.
    As long as her hair is a success, Olivia will be happy. And really she’s glad Bernie has found another job she likes just as well. She must still miss the dancing though – it would be crazy not to. Olivia, when young, loved watching those old