Saving Faith By: David Baldacci

Lee held out his hands. Faith saw the scissors and a box of hair

coloring.

“Short hair is easier to take care of, and personally I think it’s a

myth that blondes have more fun.”

She looked at him dully. “You want me to cut my hair? And then color

it?”

“No, I’ll cut it. And if you want, I can color it for you too.” “I

can’t do that.”

“You have to do that.”

“I know it seems silly under the circumstances.”

“You’re right, it does seem silly under the circumstances. Hair grows

back, but once you’re dead, you’re dead,” he said bluntly.

She started to protest but then realized he was right.

“How short?”

He cocked his head, examining her hair from different angles. “How

about a short, Joan of Arc do? Boyish, but cute.”

Faith just stared at him. “Wonderful. Boyish, but cute-my lifetime

ambitions realized with a few snips and a bottle of hair color.”

They went into the bathroom. Lee sat her down on the toilet and began

to cut while Faith kept her eyes tightly shut.

“Want me to do the color too?” Lee asked when he was done.

“Please. I’m not sure I can look at it right now.”

It took some time under the sink, and the smell of chemicals contained

in the coloring mix was tough to take on an empty stomach, but when

Faith finally managed to look in the mirror she was pleasantly

surprised. It didn’t look as bad as she would have thought. The

outline of her head, now more fully revealed, was actually a nice

shape. And the dark color went well with her skin tones.

“Now grab a shower,” Lee said. “The color won’t rinse out. Blow

dryer’s under the sink. There’ll be some clean clothes on the bed.”

She eyed his big frame. “I’m not your size.”

“Not to worry. I run a full-service resort.”

Thirty minutes later, Faith emerged from the bedroom in jeans and a

flannel shirt, jacket and low-heeled boots that Lee had left for her.

From power suit to college student. She felt years younger. The short

black hair encircled her face, which she left au naturel. Fresh start

all around.

Lee sat at the kitchen table. He studied her new appearance. “Looks

good,” he said approvingly.

“You did it.” She looked at his wet hair and a thought struck her. “Do

you have a second bathroom?”

“Nope, just the one. I showered while you were sleeping. I didn’t use

the hair dryer because I was afraid it would wake you. You’ll find I’m

a very considerate soul.”

She recoiled slightly. It was a creepy revelation, that he had been

lurking around while she was asleep in his bed. She got this sudden

image of a maniacal, scissors-toting Lee Adams leering while she lay

there tied to the bed, naked and helpless.

“God, I must have really been out,” she said as casually as she could.

“You were. I actually grabbed some shut-eye too.” He continued to

study her appearance. “You know, you look better without makeup.”

Faith smiled. “Your lies are very much appreciated.” She smoothed

down her shirt. “By the way, do you always keep women’s clothes around

your apartment?”

Lee pulled on a pair of socks and then some tennis shoes. He wore

jeans and a white T-shirt that was spread taut across his chest. The

veins in his biceps and smooth forearms rippled, and Faith hadn’t

really noticed before how thick his neck was. His torso narrowed

dramatically at his waist, the pants slightly loose there, giving him a

hard V-shape. His thighs looked ready to burst through the denim. He

caught her staring and Faith quickly looked away.

“My niece Rachel,” he said. “She goes to law school at Michigan. She

clerked at a law firm here last year and stayed with me, rent-free.

Only she earned more money in one summer than I do in about a year. She

left some of her stuff. Lucky you’re about the same size. She’ll

probably be back next summer.”

“Tell her to be careful. This town has a way of destroying people.”

“I don’t think she’ll have your problems. She wants to be a judge one

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